m^^ 


s 

^^■ 


m-'i^' 


Frf 


vAUDu^ua*'  ««!j3jnsour'  -^i^iuiwiMiin^ 


M-m^  ^^lOS•ANCfl%        .^^l-UBRARYOC;,      A^lUBRARYfi^r.         ^5.WE 


THE   NETHEK  SIDE 


NE^V  YORK; 


OR,   THE 


VICE,  CRIME   AND  POVERTY 


GREAT    MKTROPOLIS. 


By  EDWARD  CRAPSEY. 


NEW   YORK: 
Sixeldon  &  Company,  677  Broaaway, 

1872. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1872,  by 

SHELDON  &  CO., 
In  the  Office  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress,  at  Washington. 


Sheldon  &  Company,  67J  Broadway,  New  York. 


I. 

THE  7th  EDITION  OF  MRS.  EDWARDS'S  POPULAR  STORY, 

ouGHr  WE  ro  visit  herp 

By  Mrs.  Annie  Edwards,  Author  of  *'  Archie  Lovcll,**  **  Steven  Laiv- 

rence,  Yeoinan,*'  **  Susan  Fielding,"  etc. 
One  vol.  J  Svoj  paper ^/.OO  \  One  vol.,  Svo^  clot/i ^f,  75 


II. 

The  Fourth  Edition  of  Justin  McCarthy's  Attractive  Story, 

LADT  JUDITH : 

A.  TJ^XulB    OF   T^^ATO    OOlSTTinSTElSTTS. 

One  Tol.,  8vo,  elegantly  illustrated,  bound  in  paper,  price $1.25 

«  «  "  "  "       cloth,     «    2.00 


III. 
Tlie  Tliii'd  Edition  of  J.  W.  De  Forest's  Powerful  Story, 


0  VERLAND. 


jI  JVO  YMZ.    Sy  J.  ?r.  3)e  Fot^est,  atfl/ior  of  '^ZTaie  Seaumont,  ^'  etc* 
One  vol.,  8yo,  paper,  price. . .  .$1.00  |  One  toI.,  Svo,  cloth,  price $1.75 


IV. 

Miss  Douglass's  Fascinating  Story, 

LUCIA:    HER  PROBLEM. 

A  NOVEL.    By  3Iiss  Amanda  31.  Douglass,  author  of  ^^  In  Trvst,** 

"  With  Fate  Against  Mim,"  etc. 

One  vol.,  1 2m.o,  cloth,  price ^  1  .SO. 

Miss  Douglass  is  now  one  of  the  most  brilliant  novelists  in  this  country,  and  this  new  story 
will  add  greatly  to  her  reputation. 


A  NINTH  SERIES  OF  SERMONS. 

By  lier.   C.  H.  SPUBGEOJV. 

This  Tolumo  has  been  prepared  with  givat  care,  the  author  having  selected  and  revised  all  the 
Sermons,  and  also  i)repared  a  very  interesting  iiitroductiou  to  the  volume. 

One  vol,,  12mo,  cloth,  price  $1.50. 


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H.V 
(o  79fy 

NfC?f 

PREFACE. 


Some  of  the  articles  which  make  up  this  volume  originally  appeared  in  "  The 
Galaxy,"  and  were  so  favorably  received  by  the  press  and  public  as  to  seem  to 
excuse  their  reproduction,  with  additions,  in  this  more  enduring  form.  In  sub- 
mitting them  to  the  public  thus  amplified,  I  claim  for  them  no  other  merit  than 
that  they  tell  the  truth  of  matters  which  have  rarely  had  that  fate.  The  acci- 
dents of  my  profession  of  journalist  having  brought  me  in  personal  contact  with 
the  Nether  Side  of  New  York,  I  determined  to  give  the  public  the  results  of  my 
observations,  but  I  did  not  attempt  the  task  until  four  years  had  been  expended 
in  acquiring  the  information  necessary  to  its  proper  fulfilment.  With  such  an 
advantage  I  ought  to  have  approached  the  facts  as  nearly  as  is  possible,  and 
I  think  I  have  ;  I  know  that  I  have  presented  those  I  have  gathered  without 
extenuation  or  exaggeration. 

It  will  be  noticed  that  the  statistics  quoted  in  this  volume  are  for  the  several 
years  from  1868  to  1871.  When  the  articles  were  originally  prepared  for  the 
magazine  the  latest  attainable  facts  were  used,  and  the  condition  of  the  city  re- 
maining substantially  the  same  during  these  several  years,  I  have  concluded  that 
a  more  general  and  satisfactory  view  of  the  burdens  of  the  metropolis  could 
be  obtained  from  these  statistics  of  separate  years,  and  I  have,  therefore,  left 
them  unchanged  ;  if  all  the  figures  used  had  been  those  of  any  one  of  these  years 
the  exhibit  would  not  have  been  more  favorable,  and  no  injustice  is  done  by  the 
method  adopted. 

The  happy  appropriateness  of  the  title  under  which  these  articles  first  ap- 
peared, and  which  is  preserved  in  that  of  the  book,  having  been  often  compli- 
mented, I  desire  to  say  that  I  am  not  entitled  to  any  credit  therefor.  It  was 
the  suggestion  of  Messrs.  William  C.  and  Frank  P.  Church,  the  editors  of 
"The  Galaxy,"  to  whom  I  am  under  many  obligations,  beside  this  of  finding  me 
a  name  which  had  the  great  merit  of  freshness.  Thanking  them  for  the  invaluable 
assistance  I  have  received  from  them,  I  also  desire  to  aclcnowledge  my  indebt- 
edness to  the  newspaper  press  in  all  parts  of  the  country,  as  the  notices  which 
my  efforts  have  received  have  encouraged  me  to  persevere  in  dealing  with 
these  repulsive  subjects,  in  the  hope  that  I  might  furnish  a  basis  of  fact  for  the 
operations  of  the  social  reformers  of  the  future.  To  this  end  only  have  my 
labors  been  directed,  and  I  hope  that  my  work  shows  that  I  have  at  least  hon- 
estly endeavored  to  attain  it. 

E.  C. 

-a.  .,;  s  xJ  jj;  *'  fj^ 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE. 

I. — Preface T. 3 

II. — Introduction 5 

III. — Professional  Criminals 14 

IV. — Casual  Criminals 24 

V. — Harbor  Thieves 35 

VI. — Why  Thieves  Prosper 44 

VII. — Private  Detectives 53 

VIII. — "  Circular  "  Swindlers 63 

IX. — "  Skinners" 74 

X. — "  Fences  " 83 

XI. — Faro  Gamblers 92 

XII. — Lottery  Gamblers loi 

XIII. — Tenement  Life no 

XIV. — Outcast  Children 119 

XV. — Pauperism 128 

XVI. — Prostitution 138 

XVII. — Abortionists 147 

XVIII. — H.vuNTS  of  Vice 154 

XIX. — Will  Murder  Gut  .' 164 

XX. — A  Celebrated  Crime 176 


The  Nether  Side  of  New  York. 


GENERAL   FACTS. 


VERY  many  and  diverse  causes  have  contributed  to  make  possible  the 
alarming  facts  which  will  be  found  in  this  volume.  New  York  being 
an  anomaly  among  cities,  owing  to  certain  physical  conditions  and  to  some  social 
and  political  peculiarities,  it  is  only  just  that  these  should  be  briefly  stated. 

Covering  an  island  about  nine  miles  in  length  with  an  average  breadth  of 
two  and  one-half  miles,  in  which  are  contained  twenty-two  square  miles,  and 
having  twenty-one  miles  of  available  water  front,  the  city  has  unequalled  accom- 
modations for  commerce,  but  only  limited  facilities  for  the  healthful  housing  of 
a  huge  population.  As  yet  not  more  than  half  this  area  is  built  upon,  and  at 
least  a  fifth  of  this  half  is  wholly  devoted  to  trade,  so  that  the  nine  hundred  and 
forty-two  thousand  two  hundred  and  ninety-two  persons  found  by  the  last  Feder- 
al census  to  be  living  on  this  island,  are  crowded  into  an  area  of  about  nine 
square  miles,  or  at  the  rate  of  nearly  162  to  the  acre  as  an  average  for  the  entire 
city,  although  in  some  portions  732  are  compressed  within  that  limited  space.  To 
accommodate  this  population  the  city  has  291  miles  of  paved  street  surface,  275 
miles  of  sewers,  340  miles  of  Croton  water  pipes  under  this  surface,  and  10,000 
street  gas-lamps  lighted  at  the  public  cost.  The  streets  are  constantly  traversed 
by  12,000  licensed  vehicles,  1,000  horse-cars,  267  omnibuses,  and  many  thou- 
sands of  private  vehicles  of  every  kind.  These  are  general  facts  hardly 
pertinent  to  my  purpose,  but  of  sufficient  interest  to  pardon  this  mere  mention. 

Of  the  population  shown  by  the  last  census  to  be  upon  the  island,  510,553 
were  native  born,  and  in  the  remainder  were  found  representatives  of  nearly 
every  country  upon  the  earth.  From  Ireland  had  come  201,999  5  fi'O'^  Germany, 
80,494  ;  from  England,  24,398  ;  Prussia,  31,464  ;  France,  8,240;  Bavaria,  12,571  ; 
Baden,  6,724  ;  and  taking  other  nationalities  in  alphabetical  order  shows  the  fol- 
lowing :  Africa  36,  Arabia  3,  Asia  10,  Australia  64,  Austria  2,743,  Belgium  328, 
Bohemia  1,487,  Canada  3,450,  Central  America  16,  Canary  Islands  i,  China  103, 
Cuba  1,207,  Denmark  680,  Hamburg  611,  Hanover  3,698,  Hesse  7,739,  Italy 
2,789,  India  19,  Japan  i,  Mexico  56,  Malta  4,  Madeira  Islands  10,  New  Zealand 
2,  Norway  S73,  Poland  2,392,'Portugal  90,  Russia  1,139,  Scotland  7,551,  South 


THE  NETHER  SIDE  OF  NEW  YORK. 


America  202,  Spain  453,  Sweden  1,569,  Switzerland  2,169,  Turkey  3S,  Wales 
587,  and  West  Indies  3SS.  Many  of  the  smaller  nationalities  have  been  omit- 
ted, but  the  figures  given  show  a  mixture  of  people  unparalleled  anywhere  else 
on  earth,  and  to  them  must  be  added  13,093  negroes,  of  which  number  448  were 
not  natives  of  the  United  States,  but  represented  as  to  their  places  of  nativity 
39  different  countries  and  all  the  continents. 

After  a  perusal  of  these  figures,  it  is  scarcely  necessary  to  state  that  every 
creed  and  dime,  every  race  and  condition  has  its  representatives  in  New  York, 
but  to  show  how  constant  and  vast  has  been  the  alien  element  poured  into  this 
community,  I  append  a  table  showing  the  arrivals  of  emigrants  at  the  port  of 
New  York  during  the  twenty-two  years  ending  in  1868  : 


1847 129,062 

1848 186,176 

1849 220,603 

1850 212,756 

1851 289,601 

1852 300,992 

1853 284,945 

1854 319,223 

1855 136,233 

185a- 142,342 

1857 183,773 


1858. 
1859. 
i860. 
1861. 
1862. 


78,589 
79,322 
105,162 
65,539 
76,302 

1863 156,884 

296 
352 
488 

731 

686 


1865. 
1866. 
1867. 
1868. 


.182, 
.196, 

•233. 
.242, 
•  213, 


Here  is  a  total  of  4,038,991  aliens  landed  at  this  port  in  these  twenty-two 
years,  of  whom,  it  is  true,  1,597,805  came  from  Ireland,  1,536,649  from  Germany, 
498,978  from  England,  100,595  ^'^om  Scotland,  74,405  from  France,  and  62,608 
from  Switzerland,  leaving  only  168,351  from  all  the  other  nations  of  the  earth. 
Of  these  millions  nothing,  with  few  exceptions,  but  the  dregs  settled  in  the  me- 
tropolis where  they  landed.  All  the  rest,  representing  nearly  all  that  was  valuable 
in  this  avalanche  of  humanity,  was  poured  upon  the  untilled  lands  of  the  West, 
where  a  mighty  empire  sprang  from  their  loins  with  the  amazing  swiftness  of 
necromancy.  The  thrifty  emigrants  who  came  to  us  forehanded  and  determined 
to  wring  competence  from  the  new  republic,  merely  made  New  York  their  step- 
ping stone  to  fortune  ;  the  emigrants  who  exhausted  their  stores  in  securing 
their  passage,  and  landed  penniless  perforce,  staid  with  us  to  add  to  the  disso- 
nance of  this  mixture  of  peoples.  In  time  many  of  these  became  self- 
sustaining,  and  they  or  their  children  pushed  forward  into  the  ranks  of  our  most 
substantial  citizens,  but  a  large  proportion,  as  was  inevitable,  became  public 
burdens,  and  permanent  additions  to  the  vice,  crime,  or  pauperism  of  the  metrop- 
olis. 

In  the  facts  thus  far  narrated,  we  have  the  first  of  the  causes  which  have 
made  New  York  a  reproach  to  all  the  nations.  Upon  the  foundation  of  ignorance 
and  helplessness  found  in  t!iis  diversity  of  population,  constantly  fed  by  arriving 
emigrants,  all  that  we  have  of  turbulence,  poverty,  vice,  and  crime  has  been 


GENERAL  FACTS.  7 

reared.  I  do  not  mean  to  saj-  that  without  this  foundation,  we  would  have  only 
peace,  plenty,  and  virtue,  for  such  a  statement  would  be  a  most  unwise  economy 
of  truth  ;  but  I  do  mean  to  assert,  and  hope  to  show,  that  without  it  our  evils 
would  have  been  less  virulent.  While  these  social  evils  have  been  with  other 
communities,  as  it  were,  of  the  varioloid  type,  with  us  they  have  been  variola  of 
the  most  pronounced  character  ;  and  we  have  this  diversity  of  races,  this  constant 
influx  of  poverty  and  ignorance  to  thank  for  it.  True,  our  civilization  culminated 
in  commercial  and  political  rascals  who  were  "native  here  and  to  the  manner 
born,"  but  they  achieved  their  bad  pre-eminence  by  the  fact  that  more  than  half 
the  population  of  the  cit}'  which  they  mastered  were  the  easy  prey  of  unscrupu- 
lous demagogues  because  they  were  not  rooted  in  the  soil  by  birth  or  by  compe- 
tency acquired  on  it.  In  other  words,  I  trace  back  the  social  evils  of  New 
York  to  that  political  profligacy  which  was  made  possible  only  by  the  circum- 
stance that  New  York  was  a  camping  ground  rather  than  a  city. 

The  fact  that  the  city  became  in  time  merely  a  collection  of  Bedouins,  was 
inevitable  from  the  topography  of  its  site,  and  the  peculiarities  of  its  people. 
Having  length  without  breadth,  it  was  certain  that  when  the  compact  village 
below  Wall  street  should  become  a  vast  metropolis,  stretching  miles  away  to  the 
northward,  the  inhabitants  would  be  confronted  with  the  problem  of  city  transit. 
It  came  in  due  time,  and  when  the  city  had  its  straggling  suburbs  at  Fourteenth 
street,  omnibusses  supplied  all  the  needs  of  the  easy-going  people  of  that  decade. 
But  when  the  town,  putting  on  seven-league  boots,  strode  northward  at  a  rate 
which  has  had  no  parallel  in  the  growth  of  cities,  except  in  the  marvellous 
instance  of  Chicago,  the  problem  became  again  a  vexation.  Then  came  the 
introduction  of  street-railroads  on  the  surface  of  the  streets  on  which  the  cars 
are  drawn  by  horses,  and  the  people,  by  this  innovation,  seem  to  have  exhausted 
their  capacity  for  improvement  in  this  direction.  After  a  few  years,  the  street 
railroads  became  wholly  inadequate  to  the  swift  and  comfortable  carriage  of  the 
population  from  their  homes  to  their  business,  and  publicists  clearly  saw  that 
the  lack  of  such  means  of  transportation  was  telling  terribly  against  the  moral 
and  comrnercial  prosperity  of  the  city  ;  yet  nothing  was  done.  At  the  present 
time  nearly  a  generation  of  human  life  has  elapsed  since  the  introduction  of  those 
street  railroads  which  so  fully  supplied  the  needs  of  a  primitive  epoch,  but 
which  were  soon  found  to  be  only  a  temporary  expedient  for  the  relief  a  com- 
paratively small  population,  yet  they  still  remain  the  sole  resource  of  the  people. 
The  results  of  this  neglect  to  meet  a  most  vital  want  were  as  natural  and  speedy 
as  they  were  hurtful  to  the  best  interests  of  the  city. 

It  w-as  worse  than  a  two-edged  sword  which  the  metropolis  had  turned 
against  itself.  When  it  was  no  longer  possible  for  the  people  to  make  the  jour- 
ney between  their  homes  up-town  and  their  business  down-towa  in  a  reasonable 
time,  they  sought  to  evade  the  journey  altogether.  It  happened,  unfortunately 
for  the  city,  that  just  as  this  problem  of  transportation  became  most  pressing, 
the  derangement  of  values  consequent  upon  the  protracted  war  of  the  great  Re- 


8  THE  NETHER  SIDE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

bellion,  became  most  flagrant,  and  affected  rents  so  disproportionately,  that  it 
soon  became  a  question  whether  anything  less  than  the  revenues  of  a  principali- 
ty would  suffice  to  keep  a  roof  over  a  man's  head  in  the  city  of  New  York.  It 
was  certain  that  .whoever  retained  a  predilection  for  civilized  home-life,  and  was 
able  to  get  away,  would  fly  from  this  wrath  which  had  already  come,  and  they 
did  fly  so  quickly,  and  in  such  numbers,  that  the  city  was  soon  denuded  to  a 
o-reat  extent  of  that  invaluable  balance-wheel  to  political  action,  the  middle 
classes,  and  New  Jersey,  Long  Island,  and  contiguous  counties  of  the  State  of 
New  York,  became  prosperous  and  virtuous  at  the  expense  of  the  metropolis  of 
the  western  world.  This  is  a  practical,  and  in  the  sense  of  sacrificing  public 
good  to  private  benefit,  a  selfish  people.  Every  man  of  moderate  income  saw 
that  while  he  could  house  his  family  more  decently  and  at  less  cost  in  any  one 
of  the  suburban  towns  of  New  Jerse}-,  he  could  reach  them  sooner  and  with  less 
hardship,  even  if  twenty  miles  away,  than  he  could  if  they  were  only  a  tenth  of 
that  distance  up-town.  Therefore  an  exodus  began  to  these  towns,  which  has 
continued  for  several  years,  to  the  detriment  of  the  city  to  a  degree  that  is  hard- 
ly yet  realized.  Thousands  of  men  who  during  business  hours  were  engaged  in 
our  marts,  became  rooted  in  a  foreign  soil,  had  all  their  home  associations  else- 
where, were  utterly  indifferent  as  to  the  conduct  of  municipal  affairs,  and  spent 
or  invested  without  the  city  the  money  they  acquired  within  it. 

Evil,  and  evil  only,  could  result  to  the  municipality  from  such  facts  as  these. 
The  same  causes  which  had  operated  to  drive  out  the  middle  classes  had  hud- 
dled the  poorer  artisans  and  laboring  population  in  unhealthful  homes,  and 
given  to  New  York  its  crowning  shame  as  well  as  gravest  danger,  in  the  tene- 
ment system.  In  the  body  of  this  work  I  have  endeavored  to  present  this  sys- 
tem as  it  deserves,  and  do  not  intend  at  this  point  to  speak  of  it  in  detail. 
Dealing  now  rather  with  causes  than  their  effects,  I  can  only  point,  out  briefly  as 
I  have,  how  these  tenements  were  produced.  Their  blighting  effect  upon  civic 
virtue  was  made  more  destructive  lay  reason  of  the  fact  that  while  they  breeckd 
vice  and  squalor  in  their  inmates,  the  system  of  which  they  were  the  growth 
produced  an  increasing  indifference  to  all  social  and  political  problems  upon  the 
part  of  the  wealth  and  intelligence  of  the  city.  So  entirely  had  this  become  the 
case,  and  so  threatening  had  become  the  condition  of  the  city  in  consequence, 
that  so  long  ago  as  1857,  the  prevailing  alarm  allowed  the  dominant  political 
party  to  venture  on  the  hazardous  experiment  of  ruling  the  city,  in  part  from 
without  itself,  and  matters  of  police  and  excise  were  vested  in  Commissioners 
appointed  by  State  authority.  This  measure,  for  the  moment,  seemed  to  give 
the  desired  relief,  but  it  in  the  end  increased  rather  than  diminished  the  evil  it 
was  intended  to  eradicate.  Citizens  who  had  most  interest  in  the  good  govern- 
ment of  the  city,  more  than  ever  neglected  their  civic  duties,  and  became  accus- 
tomed to  look  to  the  State  to  assume  their  functions,  and  this  feeling  was  great- 
ly increased  when,  a  few  years  later,  the  State  assumed  control  of  matters  of 
public  health,  through  Commissioners,  whose  efficiency  soon  became  noted  the 


GENERAL  FACTS.  9 

world  over.  The  very  excellences  of  these  Commissions  made  them  inimical  to 
the  public  good,  as  it  was  evident  that  such  anomalous  expedients  could  not  be 
permanent  under  a  republican  government,  and  by  assuming  duties  which  the 
citizens  themselves  should  have  discharged,  they  increased  the  indifference  to 
public  affairs  among  the  great  body  of  respectable  people.  There  was  little  oc- 
casion, it  was  thought,  to  look  after  civic  matters  so  long  as  the  city  had  a  most 
excellent  police,  a  stringent  excise  law  rigidly  enforced,  and  an  admirable  sani- 
tary code  wisely  administered.  This  much  the  State  had  done,  and  there  was 
an  increasing  belief  that  it  would  continue  to  do  as  much  if  not  more. 

With  its  middle  classes  in  large  part  self-exiled,  its  laboring  population  be- 
ing brutalized  in  tenements,  and  its  citizens  of  the  highest  class  indifferent  to 
the  common  weal,  New  York  drifted  from  bad  to  worse,  and  became  the  prey  of 
professional  thieves,  ruffians,  and  political  jugglers.  The  municipal  government 
shared  in  the  vices  of  the  people,  and  New  York  became  a  city  paralyzed  in 
the  hands  of  its  rulers.  Nothing  was  done  to  improve,  adorn,  or  strengthen  it. 
The  commerce  of  the  world,  floating  through  its  grand  water-gate,  and  up  its 
beautiful  bay,  continued  to  be  landed  on  wharves  that  would  disgrace  a  coast- 
wise village.  Its  pavements,  never  good,  became  unworthy  of  an  impoverished 
community.  An  island,  it  remained  without  bridges,  and  having  length  without 
breadth,  it  could  not,  or  would  not,  devise  adequate  means  of  city  transit.  With 
princely  municipal  revenues,  the  public  buildings  became  dilapidated  and  the 
public  places  were  badly  adorned,  or  not  adorned  at  all.  Favored  with  an  equa- 
ble climate  and  a  healthful  site,  the  death-rate  remained  abnormal,  because  of 
defective  sewage,  unventilated  tenements,  and  unclean  streets.  Maintaining  a 
costly  police  force,  thieving  increased,  because  the  administration  of  correctional 
law  had  fallen  into  itching  palms.  Numbering  among  the  people  thousands  of 
citizens  whose  record  for  integrity  and  culture  would  stand  against  the  world, 
many  of  the  high  places  in  the  municipal  government  were  filled  with  marvels  of 
venality,  uncouthness,  and  ignorance  of  everything  but  political  chicanery.  In 
short,  the  city  which  had  been  most  gifted  by  nature,  had  been  most  abused  by 
man,  and  what  greatness  it  possessed  had  been  achieved  in  despite  of  untoward 
circumstances. 

There  can  be  no  wonder  that  a  city  thus  afflicted  became  the  prey  of  thievery 
and  debauchery  ;  but  worse  remained  behind.  The  history  of  New  York  during 
the  years  1867,  1868,  1S69,  1870,  and  down  to  the  middle  of  1871,  ought  to  suf- 
fuse the  cheek  of  every  American  citizen  with  the  blush  of  shame.  The  State 
still  adhering  to  the  pernicious  system  of  caring  for  the  city,  led  (o  a  union  of 
the  corruption  in  both  political  parties,  and  gradually  one  of  these  two  fell  under 
the  domination  of  an  infamous  cabal,  which  soon  became  known  and  dreaded  as 
the  Ring.  Learning  from  a  past  depravity  the  cohesive  power  of  public  plunder, 
this  Ring  was  established  and  unblushingly  maintained  by  the  conversion  of  pub- 
lic revenues  to  private  or  partisan  uses.  Scarcely  deigning  to  conceal  its  ras- 
cality from  the  general  view,  the  Ring  prospered,  and  soon  became  absolute 


lo  THE  NETHER  SIDE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

master  of  the  city.  It  named  tlie  incumbents  of  municipal  offices  from  the 
highest  to  the  lowest,  and  relegated  to  the  popular  voice  onl)-  the  empty  form 
of  ratifying  iis  nominations.  Tlirough  its  machinations  a  government  protes's- 
edly  republican  became  more  autocratic  and  more  corrupt  than  any  rule  ever  be- 
fore inflicted  upon  any  people.  It  was  omnipotent,  and  used  its  omnipo- 
tence to  extend  and  perpetuate  its  power  by  debaucliing  the  public  conscience. 
It  was  the  source  of  power  and  plunder.  Its  appointees  knew  its  arts,  and  so 
successfully  practised  them,  that  the  whole  municipality  became  a  close  corpo- 
ration of  venal  rascalit3\  While  the  general  condition  of  the  city  was  so  bad 
that  even  skilled  labor  could  with  difficulty  keep  a  roof  over  its  head,  the  Ring 
and  its  favorites  were  rioting  in  suddenly  acquired  wealth,  and  constantly  exhib- 
ited themselves  to  the  public  gaze  loaded  with  diamonds  and  guzzling  costly 
wines,  like  the  vulgar  knaves  they  were.  Salaries  were  increased  to  an  extent 
so  great  as  to  be  infamous,  yet  officials  not  only  lived  at  a  rate  far  beyond  them, 
but  made  large  investments  Only  by  the  foulest  tools  could  these  infamies  be 
wrought.  Men  who  were  fit  only  to  be  ushers  at  minstrel  shows  were  made 
State  Senators,  and  the  keepers  of  gin-shops  were  manufactured  into  legislators 
for  the  great  State  of  New  York.  Among  the  police  magistrates  were  the 
meanest  of  political  tricksters,  and  a  man  who  had  been  brought  back  from  a 
distant  State  to  answer  for  a  felony,  was  made  Auditor  of  the  public  accounts. 

And  there  was  scarcely  a  protest  against  all  this  iniquity.  Not  only  did  the 
dominant  party  permit  its  honored  name  to  be  loaded  with  an  undeserved  odium, 
but  there  was  a  universal  conviction  that  the  government  was  based  upon  thiev- 
ery, and  a  universal  indifference  to  the  fact.  Promiaent  citizens,  of  all  shades 
of  p61itical  opinion,  took  office  under  the  Ring,  and  it  seemed  there  were  many 
of  good  repute  whom  $10,000  per  annum  would  induce  to  become  the 
apologists  or  defenders  of  apparent  venality.  There  was  never  a  time  in  the 
history  of  any  people  when  public  morality  had  sunk  so  low  as  during  these  dis- 
graceful years  in  the  imperial  city.  There  was  not  only  general  acquiescence  in 
this  government,  but  general  desire  to  shase  in  its  booty.  It  was  rare  to  hear  it 
denounced,  and  if  any  one  did  denounce  it  he  was  declared  to  be  angry  because 
he  was  not  in  the  Ring!  It  was  everywhere  announced  that  all  governments 
were  corrupt,  and  that  of  New  York  was  no  worse  than  others.  It  came  to  be 
accepted  as  a  matter  of  course  that  municipal  office  should  be  a  short-cut  to  for- 
tune, and  it  occasioned  no  surprise  that  a  year  or  two  should  change  bankrupts 
into  millionaires.  Yet  the  members  of  the  Ring  did  not  put  their  safety  alto- 
gether in  the  indifference  of  the  public.  There  was  always  danger  that  the 
public  conscience  might  be  awakened  (as  it  was  at  last),  and  to  guard  against  the 
mishaps  which  might  follow,  the  most  cunning  and  shameless  frauds  were  perpe- 
trated at  the  annual  elections  to  make  them  result  in  conformity  with  the  washes  of 
the  Ring.  Such  farces  as  the  elections  of  1868  and  1869  were  never  before  acted  in 
the  faces  of  a  free  people.  The  press,  as  a  rule,  denounced  these  frauds,  as  it 
had  in  a  general  way  all  the  doings  of  the  Ring,  but  without  much  effect.     The 


GENERAL  FACTS.  ir 

people  seemed  contented  with  being  swindled,  and  at  any  rate  they  could  not  be 
roused  to  defend  themselves  until,  in  1871,  they  were  confronted  with  evidence 
that  could  not  be  doubted.  Then  they  arose  in  their  might  and  crushed  the  Ring 
as  a  giant  would  break  a  straw. 

During  these  distressful  years  when,  in  addition  to  this  deep  sleep  of  the 
public  conscience,  drinking-dens  had  multiplied  to  an  alarming  extent,  and  pov- 
erty had  increased  in  the  same  ratio,  it  must  be  admitted  that  crimes  of  violence 
did  not  increase.  The  explanation  is  not  to  be  found  in  the  stern  administration 
of  primitive  law,  but  in  the  fact  that  the  thugs  of  the  city  found  employment  in 
politics  equally  congenial  and  more  remunerative.  In  some  respects  the  judi- 
ciary of  the  higher  grades  escaped  the  prevailing  epidemic.  I  have  facts  to  nar- 
rate in  this  volume  which  seem  to  require  explanation,  but  I  am  too  thankful  for 
the  fact  that  it  was  still  possible  to  get  justice  in  the  higher  courts,  in  some 
cases  at  least,  to  neglect  to  mention  it.  During  this  time  the  city  was  startled 
with  some  atrocious -homicides,  and  there  would  have  been  many  more  undoubt- 
edly if  these  murderers  had  not  found  the  courts  insensible  to  their  influence. 
In  the  worst  of  these  cases  the  assassin,  who  was  a  powerful  tool  of  the  domi- 
nant party,  was  hanged,  and  he  has  never  had  an  imitator  of  the  peculiar  atroci- 
ty of  his  crime.  There  were  several  highway  robberies  of  startling  boldness,  but 
some  of  the  footpads  being  caught,  were  punished  with  such  extreme  rigor  that  the 
crime  was  afterwards  of  rare  occurrence.  There  was  an  uneasy  feeling  in  the  pub- 
lic mind  that  the  general  peace  and  individual  safety  were  held  by  the  frailest  of 
tenures,  and  every  crime  of  violence  which  was  unusually  virulent  or  daring,  pro- 
voked a  storm  of  popular  wrath,  that  may  have  had  much  to  do  with  #ie  speedy 
and  severe  punishment  of  the  offenders.  I  prefer  to  believe,  as  I  have  good 
reason,  that  the  judges  holding  the  General  Sessions  and  Oyer  and  Terminer 
themselves  partook  of  the  general  disquietude,  and  acted  in  all  these  cases  from 
a  genuine  desire  to  repress  crime  rather  than  in  obedience  to  popular  clamor. 
But  whatever  may  have  been  the  motives,  their  action  was  eminently  timely,  as 
without  it  the  city  would  have  fallen  utterly  under  the  sway  of  thieves  and  thugs. 
Matters  had  already  become  so  threatening  that  an  aged  citizen  had  been  robbed 
and  murdered  in  broad  daylight  at  his  own  door  ;  two  policemen  had  turned  foot- 
pads on  patrol  and  stolen  the  money  of  a  stranger  they  pretended  to  be  guard- 
ing ;  and  lesser  crimes,  but  of  equal  significance,  were  constantly  occurring. 
But,  upon  the  whole,  owing  partly  to  the  fact  that  many  of  the  thugs  were  de- 
voting themselves  to  reaping  the  spoils  of  office,  and  partly  in  consequence  of 
the  severity  with  which  they  were  punished  when  they  followed  their  natural 
bent,  crimes  of  violence  were  surprisingly  few  during  this  terrible  epoch. 

But  covert  crime  largely  increased.  The  operations  of  pickpockets,  burglars, 
sneak  thieves,  and  "confidence"  rogues  became  daily  more  extensive  and  more 
enterprising.  Street  cars  and  all  public  places  were  so  infested  with  the  light- 
fingered  that  watches  and  wallets  parted  from  their  owners  with  alarming  fre- 
quency, and  the  public  were  startled  with  such  stupendous  triumphs  of  thievery 


12  THE  NETHER  SIDE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

as  the  Lord-Bond  robbery  and  the  Ocean  Bank  burghiry.  Petty  crimes  became 
almost  countless,  and  the  warflxre  of  the  outlaws  upon  property  became  more 
enterprising  and  successful  than  had  ever  been  waged  before  in  any  civilized 
community.  It  was  inevitable  that  this  result  should  follow  from  the  almost 
universal  method  adopted  in  dealing  with  these  foes  of  society.  I  will  present 
facts  concerning  the  detective  manner  of  handling  the  great  rogues,  which  will 
entirely  explain  why  they  escaped  unscathed,  and  it  is  only  necessary  in  this 
place  to  state  certain  defects  in  the  police  and  judicial  systems,  which  gave  such 
length  of  tether  to  crime.  These  defects  were  partly  inherent  in  the  systems, 
but  were  chiefly  chargeable  to  imbecile  or  corrupt  administration.  As  to  the 
police,  there  were  many  and  grave  faults.  The  city  being  divided  into  thirty- 
two  precincts,  of  which  twenty-nine  embraced  territory,  there  was  a  force  of  only 
2,32^  rank  and  file,  to  cover  this  vast  area.  As  a  consequence  the  "beats"  of 
patrolmen  were,  as  an  average,  so  extensive,  that  no  possible  amount  of  vigi- 
lance could  have  enabled  these  officers  to  give  proper  guardianship  to  the  prop- 
erty placed  in  their  charge.  But  it  is  scarcely  probable  that  even  a  sufficient 
number  of  men  of  the  kind  of  which  the  force  was  largely  composed,  and  gov- 
erned as  they  were,  would  have  produced  results  any  more  satisfactory.  There 
were  few  incentives  to  the  faithful  performance  of  duty.  There  was,  indeed,  a 
medal  for  meritorious  conduct,  but  although  often  deserved  it  was  never  awarded 
but  once.  Promotion  was  declared  to  be  for  merit,  but  the  men  soon  found  that 
it  could  be  obtained  only  by  partisan  favor.  In  dealing  with  breaches  of  discip- 
line the  Commissioners  were  so  arbitrary  and  inconsistent  that  no  well-defined 
precedents  could  be  established,  and  an  idea  went  abroad  among  the  men  that 
pique,  or  supposed  political  necessities  had  controlling  weight  in  determining 
their  fate  when  brought  up  on  charges.  These  corroding  influences  from  head- 
quarters were  strengthened  from  the  precinct  station-house.  There  the  captain 
was  an  autocrat,  who  could,  and  many  of  whom  did,  destroy  whatever  of  efficien- 
cy headquarters  had  left.  The  pernicious  detective  system  permeated  all  the 
precincts,  as  in  each  was  found  a  man  called  the  "ward  officer,"  who  was  the  fa- 
vorite of  the  captain,  and  whose  exclusive  riglit  it  was  to  "  work  up  "  all  reported 
robberies,  but  if  it  was  one  so  trivial  or  desperate  that  nothing  could  be  made 
out  of  it,  it  was  loftily  refused  and  turned  over  to  a  patrolman.  This  ingenious 
contrivance  cut  in  two  directions  with  deadly  effect.  The  patrolman,  who,  get- 
ting the  first  clue  to  a  robbery,  found  the  case  taken  from  him  and  given  to  the 
favorite,  had  his  interest  in  the  performance  of  his  duty  destroyed,  and  afterward 
avoided  rather  than  sought  such  clues.  The  captain,  with  his  "ward  officer," 
taking  exclusive  control  of  all  these  cases,  made  the  pursuit  of  criminals  a  cor- 
poration so  close  as  to  fully  explain  how  so  many  of  these  officials  could  expend 
annually  more  than  their  salaries,  and  yet  have  balances  at  the  end  of  the  year. 
It  was  inevitable  that  such  a  process  should  result  in  few  captures  of  criminals 
and  in  fewer  convictions.  I  may  here  state  a  general  fact,  whicli  of  itself  will 
go  far  to  account  for  everything  to  be  found  in  this  volume  concerning  criminals  : 


GENERAL  FACTS.  13 

unless  the  thief  was  taken  in  the  act  he  was  7-arely  taken  afterivard,  and  the 
percentage  of  cases  where  he  was  apprehended  in  the  actual  commission  of  his 
offence,  was  naturally  very  small. 

But  there  never  was  any  certainty  that  even  the  malefactor  taken  in  flag^-ante 
delictu  would  get  his  deserts.  Police  courts,  the  world  over,  are  marvels  of  stu- 
pidity or  corruption, and  those  of  New  York  are  not  exceptions  to  the  rule.  There 
are  nine  magistrates,  holding  five  separate  travesties  oh  law  and  justice.  Each  one 
of  these  magistrates  is  the  creature  of  profligacy  to  the  extent  that  he  was  elected 
to  his  office  by  popular  vote,  at  a  time  when  political  corruption  was  most  flagrant. 
A  majority  of  them  are  the  natural  offspring  of  such  official  parentage.  With 
one  exception  they  are  not  lawyers,  and  a  majority  are  as  ignorant  of  matters 
generally  as  they  are  of  law.  It  would  be  amazing  if  such  tribunals  did  anything 
to  repress  crime  except  occasionally  and  by  accident.  That  thieves  with  politi- 
cal influence  should  find  favor  in  these  parodies  on  court,  is  as  natural  as  it  is 
notorious,  and  that  mistakes  having  the  same  effect  are  often  honestly  made,  is 
equally  notorious.  I  will  have  occasion  to  show  the  working  of  these  courts 
more  in  detail  and  it  will  be  seen  that  they  are  often  as  unduly  severe  as  they 
are  sometimes  inexcusably  lenient,  and  that  upon  the  whole  the  condition  of  so- 
ciety would  be  measurably  improved  by  their  destruction. 

Very  much  has  been  alleged  of  the  encouragement  to  crime  by  the  adminis- 
tration of  the  District  Attorney's  office,  but  I  take  occasion  hereafter  to  state 
what  little  is  known,  or  I  might  perhaps  more  justly  say,  suspected  in  this  mat- 
ter. I  have  gone  briefly  over  some  general  facts  which  are  more  than  sufficient 
to  explain  the  prevalence  of  crime  and  turbulence  among  us.  The  conformation 
of  the  city,  the  lack  of  city  transit,  the  exodus  of  the  middle  classes,  the  constant 
influx  of  emigrants,  the  abasement  of  the  lower  classes  by  the  tenements,  tlie 
corruption  of  politics  made  possible  by  all  these  facts,  and  the  paralyzation  of 
the  police  with  the  inefficiency  of  the  minor  tribunals,  are  reasons  in  abundance  in 
mitigation  of  our  social  condition,  and  go  far  to  exculpate  the  great  body  of  our 
people  from  the  reproach  that  would  otherwise  belong  to  them.  The  primary 
causes  have  been  beyond  their  control,  and  this  fact  gives  them  the  right  to 
combine  an  axiom  of  scandal  with  one  of  medical  practice,  and  plead  that  if 
they  are  no  better  than  they  should  be,  they  are  doing  as  well  as  call  be  expected 
under  the  circumstances. 


PROFESSIONAL   CRIMINALS. 


HAVING  resolved  to  give  the  public  some  trustworthy  information  concern- 
ing our  New  York  criminal  classes,  the  difficulties  of  my  task  presented 
themselves  at  its  very  beginning.  I  wished,  for  instance,  to  know  the  total  of  the 
criminal  population,  and  the  numbers  of  each  class,  but  there  were  no  published 
statistics  upon  the  subject,  and  no  one  person  who  would  admit  that  he  was  pos- 
sessed of  the  information.  I  sought,  next,  to  learn  the  value  of  the  property 
yearly  stolen,  and  the  amount  recovered  ;  but  there  were  no  police  reports  to 
tell  me,  and  no  police  captain  who  would  even  hazard  an  estimate.  Thus  far  1 
was  not  very  much  surprised  ;  but  I  must  confess  my  astonishment  when  every 
official  consulted  pretended  to  a  total  ignorance  of  the  number  of  receivers  of 
stolen  goods  and  haunts  of  thieves  in  the  Metropolis.  I  therefore  felt  that 
th^re  was  serious  need  for  so)nebody  to  know  something  of  matters  so  impor- 
tant. 

I  availed  myself,  first,  of  the  meagre  facts  officially  published,  and  on  consulting 
the  report  of  the  Police  Commissioners,  found  the  rather  startling  statement  that 
78,451  arrests  had  been  made  during  the  year  1868. '  But  an  analysis  of  the  ta- 
ble showed  that  66,880  had  been  taken  in  custody  for  such  comparatively  trivial 
matters  as  intoxication,  disorderly  conduct,  and  various  misdemeanors,  leaving 
only  11,571  as  the  total  arrests  for  every  degree  of  crime,  from  homicide  to  ma- 
licious mischief.  A  still  further  examination  of  the  table  showed  that  there  had 
been  4,927  arrests  for  petit  larceny,  2,413  for  grand  larceny,  303  for  picking 
pockets,  255  for  receiving  stolen  goods,  630  for  burglary,  132  for  robbery,  and  78 
for  murder.  But  when  these  figures  had  been  collated  no  progress  had  been 
made  in  determining  the  number  of  criminals  in  New  York,  or  the  number  of 
crimes  committed.  As  an  example,  take  the  303  arrests  for  picking  pockets. 
Any  one  familiar  with  the  city  knows  perfectly  well  that  the  figures  indicate 
nearly  the  total  number  of  professional  pickpockets  regularly  plying  their  voca- 
tion in  our  crowded  places,  but  that  they  do  not  approximate  by  many  hundreds 
to  the  number  of  watches  and  wallets  stolen  during  the  year  by  these  industrious 
gentlemen.  Nor  was  I  impressed  with  a  high  sense  of  the  value  of  this  official 
table  when  I  found  it  reporting  78  murders  in  1868,  for  I  knew  from  an  examina- 
tion of  the  Coroners'  records  that  no  more  than  48  murders  had  been  comnitted, 
and  that  61  was  the  highest  number  of  homicides  in  any  one  year  since  1856. 
The  discrepancy  is  very  great,  and  cannot  be  explained  by  the  fact  that  murder- 
ers flying  from  other  places  have  been  arrested  in  the  city  and  returned  for  trial 
to  the  places  where  the  crimes  were  committed. 


PROFESSIONAL  CRIMINALS.  15 

Not  finding  even  fundamental  data  in  the  official  publication,  I  made  inquiries 
from  all  those  police  officials  whom  I  knew  to  be  most  conversant  with  the  sub- 
ject. It  is  a  very  poor  police  captain  who  does  not  know  his  own  precinct  suffi- 
ciently well  to  give  an  almost  absolutely  correct  estimate  of  the  number  of  pro- 
fessional thieves  living  within  its  boundaries  ;  and  from  the  figures  thus  gathered 
I  am  certain  I  have  arrived  at  very  nearly  the  exact  truth.  The  result  will  sur- 
prise many  people,  and  seem  incredible  to  the  uninformed  generalizers  who  al- 
ways exaggerate  when  they  know  absolutely  nothing  ;  but  it  is  nevertheless  a  fact 
that  in  all  New  York  there  are  in  round  numbers  not  more  than  2,500  profes- 
sional criminals  of  every  kind  and  giade.  I  do  not  include  the  hundreds  driven 
by  want  or  sudden  temptation  to  the  commission  of  offences,  and  who  cannot 
justly  be  considered  as  members  of  the  criminal  class  ;  but  I  do  embrace  every 
person,  male  and  female,  who  depends  exclusively  upon  the  fruits  of  theft  for  a 
livelihood.  The  number  seems  small  in  comparison  with  the  depredations  upon 
property ;  but  such  is  the  industry  and  daring  of  New  York  "  cross-men,"  and 
they  have  enjoyed  such  immunity  from  punishment,  that  if  they  were  as  numer- 
ous as  has  been  generally  supposed  no  man's  goods  would  be  safe  for  a  day. 

The  great  body  of  the  outlawed  come  under  the  general  name  of  "  sneak." 
The  accomplished  bank-robber,  and  the  skilful  burglar,  may  object  to  the  name 
as  a  badge  of  ignominy  ;  but  that  is  because  they  have  never  thoughtfully  consid- 
■ered  the  nomenclature  of  their  calling.  The  term  "  sneak  "  includes  all  that  is  de- 
termined, patient,  plausible,  scheming,  thoroughly  educated  and  able  in  roguery, 
no  less  than  it  does  all  that  is  small,  mean  and  grovelling.  Sneaks  differ  in 
degree  ;  but  they  have  one  common  characteristic  which  gives  them  their  dis- 
tinctive name.  That  outlaw  is  a  sneak  who  does  not,  at  the  outset  of  his  crime, 
proclaim  his  nefarious  purpose  by  some  word  or  act.  The  bank-robber  and  the 
hall-thief  are  alike  in  this  respect,  and  hence  are  equally  sneaks.  With  this  ex- 
planation, due  to  offended  pride,  I  can  marshal  the  sneaks  in  due  order  of  prece- 
dence. 

Bank-sneaks  of  the  first  class  do  not  number  over  fifty  persons,  and  their 
ranks  are  rarely  recruited,  as  the  qualities  necessary  for  successfully  "  working 
the  racket "  are  not  often  found  combined  in  one  person.  Few  as  they  are  in 
numbers,  they  are  not  exclusively  the  property  of  New  York,  but  infest  in  turn 
every  large  city,  or,  in  the  words  of  a  policeman  who  knows  every  one  of  them, 
'*  they  jump  into  a  town,  work  the  street  for  a  couple  of  days,  and  then  hop  away." 
The  bank-sneak  is  the  highest  possible  criminal  development,  and  brings  to  his 
use  so  much  of  patient  research,  so  profound  a  knowledge  of  character,  such 
readiness  of  resource,  such  perfect  mental  equipoise,  that  he  seems  worthy  of 
being  that  favorite  of  fortune  which  his  high  qualities  have  made  him.  The  bank- 
sneak  is  popularly  called  the  bond-robber,  and  the  mention  of  such  achievements 
as  the  Lord  bond  robbery,  and  the  Royal  insurance  robbery,  shows  that  he  is  in 
a  line  of  business  entirely  safe  and  hugely  profitable.  He  is  a  shrewd  operator 
who  manages  to  realize  fifty  per  cent,  on  other  men's  capital,  and  this  is  a  com- 
mon event  with  the  bank-sneak.  He, is  never  caught  in  the  act  of  committing 
his  crime,  but  invariably  escapes,  with  or  without  the  valuables  he  seeks  to 
steal,  but  usually  with  them.  Having  obtained  the  property,  if  the  detectives 
should  get  on  his  trail,  his  future  proceedings  are  limited  to  negotiations  with 
the  despoiled  owners,  which  are  certain  to  result  in  an  amicable  arrangement 
whereby  he  secures  immunity  for  his  offence,  and  gets  fifty  per  cent,  on  the 
transaction.  Even  if  he  is  arrested,  and  the  stolen  property  found  in  his  posses- 
sion, the  negotiation  nevertheless  proceeds  and  is  completed,  notwithstanding 


i6  THE  NETHER  SIDE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

the  police  may  have  sufficient  evidence  to  secure  his  conviction.  Bankers  and 
detectives  seem  to  love  not  justice  less  but  money  more,  and  they  cheat  the  law 
to  satisfy  their  greed.  If  the  bankers  can  get  all  their  property  back  without 
making  any  promises,  they  are  as  eager  as  Shylock  to  give  the  rascal  only  the 
letter  of  the  law ;  but  if  the  rascal  can  manage  to  retain  even  a  tithe  of  their  valu- 
ables, he  has  a  certain  hostage  for  their  good  behavior.  Hence  results  the  fact, 
so  damaging  to  the  community,  that  of  late  years  not  one  of  the  prominent  and 
adroit  bank-sneaks  has  been  sent  to  State  Prison  in  New  York,  whatever  may 
have  been  their  fate  in  other  States. 

Damper-sneaks  are  a  little  company  not  more  than  one  hundred  in  number. 
By  "  damper,"  a  thief  means  a  safe,  for  the  reason  that  it  is  supposed  to  put  a 
damper  upon  his  hopes.  Hundreds  of  business  men  in  New  York  can  tell  from 
costly  experience  how  damper-sneaks  operate.  A  man  of  intense  respectabil- 
ity of  dress  and  demeanor,  enters  a  broker's  office,  and  asks  to  look  at  the  di- 
rectory, or  sometimes  to  write  a  note.  Permission  being  given  him,  he  takes 
care  to  put  himself  inside  the  railing,  and  as  near  the  safe  as  possible.  If  its  door 
is  ajar,  he  stands  examining  the  directory,  or  writing  for  a  moment  or  two,  when 
two  of  his  confederates  enter,  and  the  broker  is  immediately  engrossed  by  the 
pressing  needs  of  his  new  customers.  While  he  is  thus  engaged,  the  first  sneak, 
seizing  his  opportunity  and  whatever  valuables  he  can  lay  hands  upon,  passes 
out  of  the  office,  always  pausing  as  he  goes  to  thank  the  broker  for  his  courtesy. 
Presently  the  confederates  leave,  to  make  further  inquiries  before  concluding  a 
bargain,  and  it  is  always  some  moments,  and  often  hours,  before  the  broker  dis- 
covers his  loss.  Robberies  of  this  kind  are  constantly  occurring,  and  the 
damper-sneaks  probably  have  a  more  certain  and  a  larger  income  than  any  other 
class  of  thieves.  Bank-sneaks  steal  far  greater  amounts  at  a  time  ;  but  their 
thefts  are  less  frequent  because  their  opportunities  are  more  rare.  Tin  boxes, 
containing  large  amounts  in  bonds,  are  not  habitually  left  exposed  to  the  grasp 
of  the  bank  sneaks,  who  have  been  following  them  for  hours,  perhaps,  and  from 
place  to  place,  but  the  damper-sneaks  can  safely  count  upon  a  carelessness  of 
the  business  community  which  it  seems  impossible  to  cure.  Safe-doors  are  left 
open  during  business  hours,  and  while  bankers  persist  in  leaving  their  valuables 
thus  exposed  to  the  enterprise  of  a  most  adroit  and  active  class  of  rogues,  they 
yet  join  in  the  hue  and  cry  against  the  police  when  a  robbery  is  committed  which 
their  imprudence  alone  has  rendered  possible. 

Safe-blowers  do  not  have  more  than  seventy-five  names  upon  their  muster- 
rolls,  but  the  little  army  is  far  more  dangerous  to  the  hoarded  wealth  than  its 
numbers  indicate.  Commonly  known  as  burglars,  their  skill  is  first  called  on  to 
gain  entrance  to  a  building,  which  is  generally  accomplished  by  means  of  false 
keys  made  from  impressions  in  wax,  previously  taken  from  the  genuine  keys. 
The  "blowers,"  being  in  the  building,  proceed  with  a  rapidity  and  an  attention 
to  detail  made  possible  by  long  experience.  First,  they  lower  the  windows  of 
the  room  about  an  inch  to  prevent  the  breakage  of  glass,  and  next  they  wrap  the 
safe  in  wet  blankets  to  deaden  the  noise  of  the  expected  concussion.  The  pre- 
limmaries  thus  arranged,  they  drill  holes  in  the  door  of  the  safe  near  the  lock, 
and  these  having  been  filled  with  powder,  a  fuse  is  attached  ;  the  explosion 
takes  place,  the  safe  is  torn  open,  and  three  minutes  suffice  for  the  operators  to 
seize  its  contents  and  escape  from  the  building.  This  is  the  most  hazardous  of 
all  robberies,  and  is  never  resorted  to  unless  the  outlaws  are  sure  that  the  con- 
tents of  the  safe  are  sufficiently  valuable  to  compensate  for  the  risks  incurred. 
Hence,  it  is  always  prefaced  by  a  careful,  and  often  protracted,  scenting  cf  the 


PROFESSIONAL  CRIMINALS.  17 

selected  premises,  with  the  design  of  obtaining  exact  information  of  the  profits  to 
be  expected  of  the  contemplated  adventure. 

Safe-bursters,  do  not  out-number  t^ie  blowers,  and  gain  access  to  tlie  build- 
ing by  the  same  means  ;  but  henceforward  are  more  artistic  and  less  daring.  In 
common  witli  all  other  classes,  they  work  in  "mobs  "  of  three  or  four  persons  ; 
but  they  go  prepared  to  accomplish  their  designs,  rather  by  dint  of  science  than 
by  brute  force.  First,  the  safe  is  clamped  securely  to  the  floor,  so  as  to  be  made 
perfectly  immovable  against  any  pressure  ;  next,  holes  are  drilled  in  the  door, 
and  in  these  jack-screws  are  fitted,  to  be  worked  by  levers.  The  operation  is 
entirely  noiseless  and  thoroughly  effective.  No  safe  was  ever  made  strong 
enough  to  withstand  the  tremendous  power  thus  applied,  and  it  is  generally  the 
work  of  a  few  minutes  only  to  make  the  shapely  strong-box  a  mass  of  iron  shreds. 
So  complete  is  the  wreck  that  non-professionals,  looking  upon  it,  insist  that  gun- 
powder was  used,  and  wonder  why  the  police  did  not  hear  the  noise  of  the  ter- 
rific explosion.  In  point  of  fact,  there  had  been  no  explosion  and  no  noise  of 
any  kind.  The  bursters,  like  the  blowers,  never  take  unremunerative  risks,  and 
never  attack  a  safe  until  sure  of  what  it  contains.  The  attack  having  been  made 
is  almost  certain  to  be  completely  successful,  and  the  operators  are  as  sure  to 
escape  undetected,  with  all  of  the  valuables. 

Safe-breakers  are  the  lowest  grade  of  operators  upon  the  vaunted  burglar- 
proof  receptacles,  and  are  also  the  most  numerous,  as  they  number  about  two 
hundred.  They  rely  solely  upon  main  force  both  in  entering  a  building  and  in 
working  upon  the  safe,  as  they  pry  open  the  first  with  a  "jimmey,"  or  small 
hand-bar,  and  belabor  the  latter  with  a  hammer  until  it  falls  to  pieces.  Although 
thieves  in  the  crude  state,  they  are  not  altogether  idiots,  and  so  wrap  the  hammers 
with  old  cloths  as  to  materially  deaden  the  noise.  They  are  less  successful 
than  the  other  classes,  and  are  more  frequently  "coppered" — that  is,  arrested. 
They  are,  too,  a  h^p-hazard  set  of  knaves,  and  even  when  they  have  opened  a 
safe,  and  evaded  arrest,  are  often  not  recompensed  for  their  trouble,  for  it  has 
frequently  hajDpened  that  they  have  over-tasked  their  muscles  in  breaking  down 
iron  walls  that  enveloped  nothing  whatever  of  value. 

Bed-chamber  sneaks,  are  the  silent,  invisible  partners  of  blowers,  bursters, 
and  other  first-class  burglars,  as  well  as  of  forgers,  and  are  only  about  fifty  in 
number.  Their  particular  "racket"  is  to  obtain  the  means  of  entering  dwellings 
and  stores  without  noise  or  violence,  and  they  are  the  most  insidious  of  all  out- 
laws. They  require  for  success  in  their  line,  more  of  nerve,  endurance,  and 
plausibility  than  the  great  mass  of  rogues  can  claim,  and  hence  the  large  demand 
for  their  services,  and  the  many  robberies  in  which  they  have  been  found  to  be 
partners.  Their  energies  are  devoted  to  obtaining  impressions  in  wax  of  the 
true  keys,  from  which  false  keys  can  be  made.  The  sneak  watches  a  store  for 
days,  until  he  learns  who  has  the  custody  of  the  keys,  and,  whether  it  be  pro- 
prietor, clerk,  or  porter,  he  follows  that  person  to  his  home  until  he  finds  a  chance 
of  entering  the  house  unobserved  and  secreting  himself  in  the  bed-chamber  of 
the  proposed  victim.  On  these  occasions  the  sneak  never  steals  or  displaces 
anything,  and  being  so  adroit  that  he  never  awakens  the  inmate  of  the  room,  the 
fact  that  an  impression  of  the  keys  has  been  taken  is  not  known  until  after  the 
robbery.  When  the  keys  of  a  dwelling,  instead  of  those  of  a  store,  are  wanted, 
the  sneak  ingratiates  himself  with  the  house-servants,  and  while  deluding  those 
susceptible  minds  with  the  soft  words  of  scheming  love,  deftly  takes  a  fac-simile 
in  wax  of  the  desired  key.  He  never  purloins  the  key  itself,  for  he  is  entirely 
successful  in  his  purpose  only  when  it  is  accomplished  without  creating  any  sus- 


l8  THE  NETHER  SIDE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

picion  that  a  dishonest  enterprise  is  afoot.  These  sneaks  do  not  wait  for  orders 
for  particular  ke3S,  but  keep  constantly  on  hand  a  large  and  well-assorted  stock 
of  the  most  desirable  wares  in  their  line.  They  are  the  prime  movers  in  nearly 
all  the  burglaries,  and  procure  the  information  as  to  the  valuables  upon  which 
the  crimes  are  based,  and  give  this^  with  the  false  keys,  to  their  "pals,"  the  burg- 
lars. 

Second-story  sneaks  are  not  more  than  one  hundred  in  number,  and  owe 
their  name  to  a  recently-devised  expedient  for  reaching  the  coveted  valuables  of 
honesty.  Formerly  they  worked  what  was  called  the  "  eatable  lay,"  and  for  a 
time  quite  a  profitable  '-lay"  it  was.  Generally  working  in  couples,  they  chose 
for  their  operations  the  hour  when  the  dinner-table  was  sjDread,  and  sauntering 
through  some  quiet,  respectable  street,  selected  a  house  where  the  basement 
door  was  ajar.  One  posting  himself  there,  the  other  ascended  the  stoop  and 
rang  the  front-door  bell.  Up  went  the  servant,  and  while  the  ringer  detained  her 
with  persistent  inquiries  for  some  mythical  Jones  or  Smith,  asserted  to  reside  in 
the  neighborhood,  his  confederate  below  walked  into  the  deserted  dining-room, 
and  walked  out  again  with  the  spoons  and  silver-ware  concealed  under  his  coat. 
But  the  Metropolis  has  so  advanced,  and  the  basement  floors  of  houses  having 
silver  are  now  so  infested  with  servants,  that  the  "eatable  lay"  has  fallen  into 
desuetude,  and  second-story  sneaks  have  arisen.  They  can  only  work  in  seclud- 
ed streets,  and  during  the  season  when  the  dinner-hour  of  six  o'clock  is  after 
dark.  While  the  inmates  of  the  house  are  all  down-stairs  at  dinner,  the  sneak 
boldly  scales  one  of  the  pillars  of  the  stoop,  and  thus  reaches  a  second-floor  win- 
dow, which  he  opens  with  an  admirable  little  apparatus  specially  prepared  for  the 
purpose.  Once  within  the  house,  he  has  usually  an  easy  task  before  him,  for  he 
finds  all  the  doors  unlocked,  and  roams  unimpeded  through  all  the  upper  rooms, 
rummaging  all  the  closets  and  bureaus,  and  seizing  whatever  he  can  find.  Hav- 
ing gathered  all  that  is  portable  and  valuable,  he  goes  down  the  pillar  again,  or 
sneaks  down  the  stairs,  and  makes  his  exit  by  the  front  door,  to  rejoin  his  "pal," 
who  has  meantime  been  engaged  in  an  operation  which  he  styles  "piping  off  the 
cop,"  by  which  he  means  that  he  has  been  watching  the  movements  of  the 
policeman,  in  order  to  intercept  him  with  some  plausible  device  if  he  should  give 
signs  of  approaching  the  house  while  the  sneak  is  working  it.  This  sort  of  rob- 
bery has  lately  become  quite  common,  and  the  diamond  thefts  in  dwellings, 
which  seemed  so  inexplicable,  were  all  done  by  these  sneaks. 

Chance-sneaks  are  an  army  about  eight  hundred  strong,  and  stand  at  the 
very  bottom  of  the  scale  of  villainy,  the  scorn  of  all  speculative  thieves,  the  butt 
of  all  rascally  ridicule,  and  the  aim  of  all  police  endeavor.  They  differ  in  degree 
among  themselves,  but  are  all  equally  without  adroitness  and  originative 
capacity.  They  are  poor,  thriftless,  aimless  creatures,  drifting  helplessly  about 
the  streets  by  day  and  by  night,  watching  for  a  chance  to  dart  into  a  hallway 
and  snatch  a  coat,  to  sneak  behind  some  counter  and  rifle  a  till,  or  to  purloin  a 
hat,  or  pair  of  boots,  or  some  trifling  article  from  the  street  display  of  a  store. 
These  chance-sneaks,  as  a  rule,  have  evinced  an  amazing  lack  of  sense  in  the 
perpetration  of  their  crimes,  and  in  their  proceedings  afterward.  They  have 
way-laid  men  who  have  not  had  a  dollar  to  be  stolen,  and  they  have  committed 
burglary  upon  retail  shops  which  were  almost  certain  to  contain  nothing  worth 
carrying  away.  They  have  kept  a  key  which  was  the  sole  result  of  a  highway 
robbery,  and  they  have  neglected  to  throw  away  a  marked  penny  which  was  the 
only  result  of  a  laborious  burglary,  and  the  trifle,  which  any  intelligent  thief 
would   have  cast  from  him  on   the  instant,  served,  in  both  cases,  to  detect  the 


PROFESSIONAL  CRIMINALS.  ig 

criminal.  In  common  with  all  chance-sneaks,  these  blunderers  are  continually 
tumbling,  from  sheer  mal-adroitness,  into  the  clutches  of  the  law,  and  their  ranks 
are  thus  constantly  depleted  by  arrests,  but  are  as  rapidly  filled  up  with  fresh 
recruits.  Chance-sneaks  are  the  mo'st  easily  manufactured  of  all  villains,  the 
only  necessary  ingredient  being  a  willingness  to  steal. 

I  have  now  disj^osed  of  the  classes  known  as  sneaks,  but  many  other  sorts 
of  criminals  are  waiting  for  presentation.     To  me  there  is  a  fascination  in  this 
.  orderly  review  of  the  great  host  living  beyond  the  pale  of  the  law,  and  at  war 
with  all  honesty,  and  hence  I  am  emboldened  to  believe  that  what  is  not  tire- 
some to  write  will  not  be  wearisome  to  read. 

Pickpockets  in  New  York  are  almost  without  equal  as  cunning,  daring  crimi- 
nals. They  have,  too,  the  great  virtue  of  industry,  and  ply  their  trade  with  such 
unintermitting  zeal  that  each  one  of  them  seems  multiplied  by  a  score.  There 
are  not  more  than  three  hundred  of  these  light-fingered  operators,  notwithstanding 
a  prominent  detective  lately  announced  his  belief  in  the  existence  of  a  thousand. 
Nor  would  his  statement  seem  incredible  to  the  casual  observer  who  should 
spend  a  day  at  the  Central  Detective  Office  and  listen  to  the  many  "squeals  for 
stuff,"  as  the  singular  language  of  the  place  styles  complaints  that  pockets  have 
been  picked.  But  when  this  casual  observ^er  learns  that  the  New  York  pick- 
pockets are  the  most  industrious  thieves  upon  earth;  that  a  pair  of  them  will 
"work"  half  a  dozen  different  lines  of  stages  and  street  cars  in  the  course  of  the 
same  day,  and  then  be  on  hand  in  the  evening  in  places  of  public  resort,  he  will, 
perhaps,  begin  to  wonder  why  the  three  hundred  do  not  every  day  steal  every 
watch  and  wallet  in  the  city.  The  adroitness  and  impudence  of  our  pickpockets 
are  matchless  ;  and  although  they  are  so  often  arrested  that  many  of  them  are 
probably  in  custody  several  times  in  every  year,  it  is  so  difficult  to  fix  their 
crimes  upon  them  that  it  is  a  rare  event  for  any  expert  professional  to  be  con- 
victed. In  "mobs"  of  two  or  three,  they  infest  the  street  cars,  when  they  are 
overcrowded.  Standing  upon  the  rear  platform  where  every  one  passing  in  or 
out  must  push  past  them,  when  a  good  watch-chain  is  discovered  upon  a  vest 
they  hustle  the  passenger  violently  about  under  pretence  of  making  room  for 
him,  and,  in  the  ensuing  confusion,  the  watch  and  chain  abruptly  change  own- 
ers. Sometimes  they  repeat  this  operation  several  times  upon  the  same  car, 
within  as  many  minutes,  and  when  they  leave  a  car  it  is  only  to  get  upon  anoth- 
er, and  continue  to  ply  their  trade.  They  are  so  rarely  taken  in  the  act  of  crime 
that  during  the  year  1868  only  twenty-five  persons  were  brought  to  trial  for 
assaults  with  intent  to  steal  a-  pickpockets,  and  of  this  small  number  two  es- 
caped conviction  by  reason  of  the  insufficiency  of  the  proof.  About  one-fourth 
of  the  pickpockets  are  females,  who  frequent  dry-goods  shops,  churches,  funer- 
als, fairs,  and  other  places  crowded  with  ladies.  These  females  are  equally 
gifted  with  the  males  in  the  stealthy,  light-fingered  art. 

The  dexterity  of  these  rascals  is  astonishing.  As  a  case  in  point  I  must  cite 
the  old  gentleman  who  had  involuntarily  contributed  several  watches  to  the  fra- 
ternity, and  becoming  tired  of  their  constant  demands  upon  him,  finally  had  his 
watch  so  strongly  welded  to  the  chain  that  even  pickpockets  could  not  sepa- 
rate the  two,  and  to  this  precaution  added  that  of  fastening  the  chain  securely  to 
his  vest.  One  day  he  entered  a  Broadway  stage,  and  presently  feeling  a  tug  at  his 
watch,  turned  around  so  as  to  give  the  thief  every  chance  to  prosecute  his  task. 
The  tug  was  twice  repeated,  and  a  moment  afterward  the  seat  next  to  him  was 
vacated,  the  clerical-appearing  man  who  had  occupied  it  having  left  the  stage, 
The  old  gentleman  laughed  immoderately  over  his  triumph,  and  explained  to  his 


20  THE  NETHER  SIDE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

astonished  fellow-passengers  :  "  That  fellow  who  just  got  out  is  a  pickpocket. 
He  took  three  pulls  at  my  watch,  but  3'ou  see  he  didn't  get  it  !  "  Again  tlie  old 
gentleman's  face  was  full  of  merriment  ;  but  happening  to  thrust  his  hand  into 
his  trowsers  pocket,  a  sudden  change  came  over  his  features,  and  he  cried  out : 
*'  But  the  rascal's  got  my  pocket-book,  with  $500  in  it  !  " 

This  experience  is  that  of  many,  and  there  are  thousands  of  persons,  scat- 
tered all  over  the  globe,  who  know  from  personal  episodes  how  adroit,  bold  and 
industrious  are  the  New  York  pickpockets.  There  are  others  at  home  who  can 
tell  that  these  chevaliers,  more  than  all  other  thieves,  are  possessed  of  political 
power  and,  in  some  localities,  are  a  controlling  element  in  ward  caucusses  and 
nominations.  The  multitude  of  ward  roughs,  who  do  the  voting,  and  the  fight- 
ing necessary  to  effective  voting,  look  up  to  the  well-dressed,  suave  pickpockets 
as  superior  beings,  and  the  latter  accept  the  reverence  as  so  much  grist  to  their 
mills.  They  use  the  roughs  to  force  their  favorites  to  power,  and  fill  high  places 
with  creatures  dependent  on  their  bounty  and  ready  to  do  their  bidding.  Much 
has  been  asserted,  and  more  imagined  of  the  political  power  of  thieves  in  New 
York,  all  of  which  may  not  be  true  ;  but  it  is  certainly  a  fact  that  whatever  of 
such  power  belongs  to  professional  criminals  is  almost  exclusively  the  property 
of  the  pickpockets,  who  are  no  less  dangerous  at  the  ballot-box  than  in  street 
cars. 

Shoplifters  constitute  another  grand  division  of  the  army  of  rogues,  and  num- 
ber not  more  than  two  hundred  persons,  fully  one-half  of  whom  are  females,  who 
are  by  far  the  most  successful  in  this  line  of  business,  as,  from  their  costume, 
they  have  better  opportunities  for  carrying  away  the  stolen  goods  from  under  the 
very  eye  of  the  owner.  These  female  shoplifters  always  operate  in  pairs,  and 
one  of  the  two  invariably  has  under  her  dress  an  immense  pocket,  sustained  by  a 
girdle  around  her  waist,  which  will  easily  swallow  two  or  more  pieces  of  muslin* 
or  packages  of  similar  bulk.  Entering  a  shop  together,  one  of  them  engages  the 
attention  of  the  shopkeeper,  the  other  slips  a  package  of  goods  from  the  counter 
into  her  capacious  pocket. 

Forgers,  speaking  of  them  as  professiortals,  are  hardly  a  class,  so  few  are  they 
in  number.  They  do  not  exceed  twenty-five,  but  it  must  be  remembered  that 
the  figures  include  only  the  professionals,  and  that  the  amateur  forgers  are  four 
or  five  times  as  numerous.  The  forger's  first  step  is  to  inform  himself  of  the  aver- 
age of  the  victim's  bank  account ;  his  next  to  take  a  bed-chamber  sneak  into  the 
speculation.  His  partner  contributes  to  the  stock  of  the  concern  one  of  the  can- 
celled checks  of  the  victim,  some  of  his  ink,  and  a  b  ank  check,  all  of  which  he  steals 
from  the  victim's  office.  Provided  with  these  art  cles,  the  forger  works  patiently, 
imtil  he  produces  a  perfect  fac-simile  of  the  victim's  signature.  Then  the  check  is 
made  out,  generally  for  a  sum  less  than  $500,  and  the  forger  summons  his  second 
partner  in  some  bank-sneak  who  has  had  a  run  of  bad  luck,  and  being  tempo- 
rarily in  difficulties,  is  ready  to  turn  his  hand  to  any  promising  job.  As  the 
bank-sneak  can  assume  any  shape  at  will,  and  preserve  his  nonchalance  under 
the  most  adverse  circumstances,  it  is  his  business  to  present  the  check  at  the 
bank  and  receive  the  money  for  it.  The  forger  himself  never  enters  the  bank, 
but  is  invariably  lurking  in  the  vicinity  ;  so  if  the  fraud  is  successful,  the  sneak  is 
certain  that  the  eye  of  his  principal  is  upon  him  from  the  moment  he  leaves  the 
bank,  and  that  he  has  no  chance  to  secure  more  than  his  legitimate  share  of  the 
proceeds  of  the  operation.  By  such  means  as  tlvese  the  forgers  operate,  and 
although  few  in  number,  they  are  so  industrious  and  so  skilful  that  the  banks  of 
the  city  are  yearly  victimized  to  the  extent  of  thousands  of  dollars.    Very  recently 


PROFESSIONAL  CRIMINALS.  21 

the  city  was  congratulated  upon  the  decline  of  the  crime  of  forgery,  and  the  re- 
port of  the  Police  Commissioners  was  cited  as  showing  only  113  arrests  for 
the  offence  during  the  past  year.  But  these  figures  included  hardly  one  of  the 
professional  and  dangerous  forgers,  and  did  not  even  approximate  the  number 
of  times  the  crime  had  been  committed.  Banks  very  rarely  prefer  justice  to 
their  own  interest,  and  if  a  forger  is  content  to  cheat  them  out  of  small  amounts 
they  pocket  the  loss  in  silence,  and  never  report  the  matter  to  the  police  at  all. 
But  the  fact  that  such  and  such  banks  have  been  defrauded  by  forged  checks 
leaks  out  through  various  channels,  and  the  police  have  not  therefore  fallen  into 
the  error  of  believing  that  the  forgers  have  retired  from  business.  Sometimes 
the  forgers  strike  so  heavily  that  the  bank  forgets  its  caution  and  "  squeals  "  with 
exceeding  liveliness.  This  was  the  case  about  two  years  ago,  when  the  City 
Bank  paid  a  c  leck  for  $75,000  purporting  to  be  signed  by  Cornelius  Vanderbilt, 
and  endorsed  by  Henry  Keep.  So  excellently  well  were  these  signatures 
made,  that  the  check  was  unhesitatingly  paid,  notwithstanding  its  large  amount 
nor  was  it  discovered  that  both  names  were  forgeries  until  after  some  time  had 
elapsed.  The  cashier  of  the  bank  remembered  distinctly  the  features  and  per- 
son of  the  man  who  presented  the  check,  and  made  a  pen-and-ink  sketch  of 
both  that  enabled  Detective  George  Elder  to  follow  the  forger  through  several 
States,  and  finally  to  arrest  him  in  an  interior  town  of  Illinois.  Elder  also  re- 
covered nearly  all  the  money  of  the  bank,  and  hence  the  forger  is  now  doing  the 
State  some  service  in  the  Sing  Sing  Prison  to  which  place  he  was  committed 
under  the  name  of  Henry  Livingston.  But  while  this  case  is  one  of  the  most 
remarkable  forgeries  upon  record,  and  brought  Livingston  temporary,  but  wide- 
spread notoriety,  his  partial  success  has  not  induced  any  of  his  confreres  to  imi- 
tate his  example.     They  have  chosen  rather  to  follow  the  safe  and  beaten  path. 

Confidence-operators  exist  only  because  fools  and  their  money  can  be  easily 
parted.  Strictly  speaking,  they  are  not  thieves,  but  belong  rather  to  the  category 
of  swindlers  ;  nor  can  the  majority  of  those  detected  in  the  offence  be  justly  called 
professionals.  Any  impecunious  person,  whose  moral  perceptions  are  slightly 
blunted,  may  be  driven  by  temporary  distress  to  some  indirection  in  raising 
means  for  a  pressing  emergency  without  intending  to  commit  a  crime.  But  there 
are  about  one  hundred  men  and  women  in  New  York  who  depend  for  subsistence 
solely  upon  the  credulity  of  their  fellow  creatures.  By  means  of  some  plausible 
tale  they  manage  to  filch  a  very  comfortable  living  out  of  other  people's  pockets, 
and  some  of  them  elude  the  vengeance  of  their  victims  for  months  or  years.  A 
recent  case  is  the  most  striking  illustration  of  the  manner  in  which  these  cheats 
achieve  greatness  that  the  police  annals  can  give.  A  woman,  past  middle  life, 
of  unprepossessing  appearance,  and  by  no  means  of  winning  address,  was  lately 
taken  before  a  police  magistrate,  on  a  charge  of  false  iDretences,  made  by  a  man 
whom  she  had  induced  to  lend  her  a  small  sum  of  money,  by  the  statement  that 
her  uncle  had  recently  died  in  Germany,  leavin_g  her  a  large  fortune  which  she 
desired  to  settle  upon  the  children  of  her  first  husband.  To  accomplish  this 
purpose  she  wished  the  complainant  to  act  as  guardian  of  the  children  and 
trustee  of  the  estate,  and  the  money  advanced  was  to  pay  a  lawyer  for  drafting 
the  papers  necessary  to  the  transfer.  After  her  arrest,  several  other  victims  ap- 
peared against  her,  and  it  was  developed  that  the  gross  amount  of  her  frauds  by 
this  shallow  device  was  upwards  of  ,$3,000.  In  every  case  the  persons  she 
applied  to  had  snapped  eagerly  at  being  invested  with  the  control  of  the  apocrj-- 
phal  fortune,  and  had  readily  dropped  the  substance  they  had  to  snap  greedily 
at  its  shadow. 


22  THE  NETHER  SIDE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Receivers  of  stolen  goods,  or  "fences,"  as  the  thieves  more  tersely  name 
them,  not  only  make  thievery  possible,  but  are  the  only  persons  who  ever  become 
rich  from  its  proceeds.  The  thief  might  steal  cart-loads  of  costly  silks  and  not 
be  a  dollar  the  richer,  were  there  no  fences  to  take  the  "lush  "  off  his  hands, 
and  work  it  again,  by  degrees,  and  unsuspected,  into  the  regular  channels  of 
trade.  The  thief  chaffers  with  the  "fence,"  threatens  him,  sometimes  with 
physical  hurt,  and  sometimes  with  the  loss  of  his  custom,  but  all  the  time  knows 
that  he  is  utterly  in  the  power  of  the  fence,  who  is  the  inevitable  evil  of  his  call- 
ing. Thieves  are  always  without  money,  and  cannot  afford  to  quarrel  with  men 
who  stand  to  them  somewhat  in  the  relation  of  bankers,  and  hence  fences  and 
thieves  maintain  amicable  relations  despite  the  fact  that  the  thieves  know  that 
the  fences  cheat  them  every  day  worse  than  they  did  the  day  before.  If  the  thief 
ever  gets  from  the  fence  one-fifth  of  the  value  of  the  stolen  goods  he  considers 
himself  the  luckiest  of  villains,  and  if  he  ever  gets  more  the  fence  looks  upon 
himself  as  the  weakest  of  fools.  The  fences  manage  to  keep  up  a  semblance  of 
pursuing  a  legitimate  calling.  They  stand  as  a  cordon  of  pickets  between  rogu- 
ery and  honesty,  and,  while  distrusted  by  both,  neither  can  absolutely  dispense 
with  them.  Very  rarely  indeed  is  a  first-class  fence  fairly  caught,  and  more  rarely 
still  convicted.  In  New  York  the  doctrine  that  "the  receiver  is  as  bad  as  the 
thief,"  has  been  practically  discarded.  Thieves  use  fences  to  "  work  off  "  stolen 
goods,  and  detectives  use  them  to  trace  and  recover  stolen  property.  Between 
the  two,  fences  find  not  only  safety,  but  great  profits.  It  is  a  fortunate  thing  for 
the  city  that  there  are  no  more  than  one  hundred  of  these  professional  receivers  ; 
as  they  multiply,  so  do  robberies  increase.  Any  pawn-broker  or  junk-dealer  is 
liable  to,  and  very  often  does,  become  innocently  a  receiver  of  stolen  goods  ;  but 
the  amount  of  property  that  can  be  worked  off  through  them  is  inconsiderable  ; 
for  in  going  to  them'the  thief  incurs  a  risk  he  will  not  take  until  all  other  expe- 
dients fail.  It  may  be  surmised,  therefore,  that  the  extirpation  of  professional 
receivers  would  very  materially  lessen  the  number  of  sneak  robberies  and  burg- 
laries. There  is  sufficient  probability  of  this  result  to  make  the  experiment 
worth  trying  ;  but  there  is  no  hope  that  it  will  be  tried  until  detectives  shall  aban- 
don the  practice  of  using  one  criminal  to  entrap  another. 

There  are  other  classes  of  criminals  who  must  be  briefly  reviewed  and  dis- 
missed. "  Buckhoos  " — the  word  was  never  before  written,  and  I  am  not  sure 
as  to  the  orthography — is  the  name  given  to  a  small  band  of  prowlers  in  the 
Fourtli  Ward,  who  have  qualified  themselves  for  their  "lay"  by  one  short 
voyage,  whereby  they  pick  up  a  stock  of  sea  phrases  sufficient  to  enable  them 
to  become  boon  companions  of  sailors  ashore,  and  thus  lure  them  to  the  dance- 
houses,  where  they  are  mercilessly  robbed.  As  different  as  can  be  from  the 
"  buckhoos  "  are  the  butcher-cart  robbers,  once  known  as  hog-thieves,  who  gain 
their  title  by  the  fact  that  they  have  a  butcher  cart  with  a  fast  horse  attached, 
standing  near  the  scene  of  an  intended  robbery,  and  jumping  rnto  the  cart  the 
moment  their  crime  is  accomplished,  rarely  fail  to  outstrip  pursuit.  Formerly 
these  fellows  devoted  themselves  exclusively  to  hog  stealing,  and  a  very  profita- 
ble and  pleasant  occupation  they  made  of  it.  Driving  through  the  upper  parts 
of  the  city,  when  a  hog  was  seen  in  the  street  the  cart  was  stopped,  out  jumped 
the  thieves — usually  two — and  seizing  the  hog,  threw  it  into  the  cart  and  drove 
off  at  a  spanking  gait,  before  the  astonished  animal  had  time  to  even  begin  to 
squeal.  Very  industriously,  indeed,  did  the  thieves  work  this  "  racket,"  and 
they  only  abandoned  it  when  the  raw  material  was  exhausted,  and  not  a  hog  was 
to  be  seen  in  the  streets.     As  the  hog-lhievcs  went  down,  the   "  smashers  "  came 


PROFESSIONAL  CRIMINALS.  23 

up,  and  tlie  peculiar  plan  of  operations  that  gave  these  last  their  name,  is  of 
comparatively  recent  origin.  Their  first  point  is  to  provide  a  plate  of  iron  about 
nine  inches  square,  with  a  handle  upon  one  side,  and  armed  with  this  to  smash 
in  the  show-windows  of  jewellers,  or  the  protecting  glass  of  banking-houses,  and 
steal  the  valuables  behind  the  glass.  Akin  to  the  "  smashers  "  are  those  desper- 
ate thieves  the  police  style  "  hangers-up,"  who  steal  upon  a  man  in  some  private 
place,  bind  him  hand  and  foot,  and  after  robbing  him  leisurely  and  effectually, 
go  away,  leaving  him  to  loosen  himself  as  best  he  may.  The  most  notable  case 
of  this  kind  is  the  Bowdenheim  Bank  robbery,  when  the  thieves  entered  the 
house  of  the  cashier,  bound  and  gagged  the  whole  family,  and  having  secured 
the  keys  of  the  bank,  robbed  it  without  molestation.  But  I  cannot  possibly 
name  within  reasonable  limits  all  the  little  coteries  of  the  lawless,  who  have 
gained  distinctive  names  by  remarkable  deeds,  but  who  in  the  walks  of  their 
everyday  crime  belong  to  some  one  of  the  grand  divisions  enumerated. 

It  is  singular  that  while  the  police  authorities  of  London  can  report  that 
there  are  in  that  city  4,336  habitual  criminals,  and  1,740  houses  of  bad  character, 
including  1,064  brothels,  the  same  authorities  in  New  York  profess  that  it  is  ut- 
terly impossible  to  obtain  similar  facts,  in  the  much  more  easily  policed  city  un- 
der their  charge.  Under  the  old  Municipal  Police  system,  the  captains  of  wards 
were  required  to  make  reports  of  all  known  and  suspected  disreputal)Ie  charac- 
ters within  the  limits  of  their  commands ;  but  under  the  Metropolitan  regiifie, 
this  excellent  practice  was  soon  discontinued,  and  the  precise  executive  head  of 
the  Police  was  not  ashamed,  on  a  late  occasion,  to  declare  that  he  had  no  idea  as 
to  the  number  of  the  criminal  population  of  New  York,  and  that  it  was  impossi- 
ble to  obtain  the  information.  The  task  thus  decreed  to  be  impossible,  has  been 
accomplished  in  these  pages,  and  solely  by  the  agency  of  police  captains  and  de- 
tectives, wiio  would  have  been  compelled  to  report  the  same  facts  to  the  Central 
Police  Office,  had  they  been  ordered  to  do  so.  The  central  authorities  have  in- 
deed had  a  vague  idea  that  it  was  incumbent  upon  them  to  know  something  of 
the  criminals  they  are  popularly  supposed  to  have  under  surveillance,  and  hence 
there  is  a  regulation  requiring  officers  arresting  persons  known  to  be  profession- 
al criminals,  to  have  their  photographs  taken  for  the  "  Rogue's  Gallery."  How 
rigidly  this  regulation  has  been  enforced,  and  how  valuable  are  its  results,  can 
be  imagined  when  it  is  known  that  only  498  persons  have  thus  far  been  photo- 
graphed, and  that  the  number  is  made  up  almost  exclusively  of  common-place 
chance-sneaks,  shop-lifters,  and  confidence-operators,  and  includes  very  few  of 
the  adroit  and  daring  outlaws  known  to  be  at  large  in  the  streets.  No  bond- 
robber,  or  safe-burster,  or  thief  of  high  degree,  whose  name  is  known  in  police 
circles  the  nation  over,  has  ever  been  seized  by  the  camera  for  the  official  collec- 
tion. The  bald  fact  is  sufficiently  suggestive,  and  I  have  never  heard  any  expla- 
nation attempted.  The  "  Rogues'  Gallery  "  is  of  some  little  value  as  it  is  ;  but  it 
could  so  easily  be  made  a  potent  and  complete  agency  in  detective  work  that  its 
paucity  of  faces  is  one  of  the  many  official  mysteries  crowding  the  marble  pile  in 
Mulberry  street,  known  as  "Police  Headquarters." 


CASUAL   CRIMINALS. 


AT  a  public  meeting  in  1871,  the  Rev.  Henry  W.  Bellows  declared  that 
there  are  in  the  city  of  New  York  30,000  professional  thieves,  20,000 
lewd  women  and  harlots,  3,000  grog  shops,  and  2,000  gambling  establishments. 
Such  statements  as  these,  by  a  gentleman  so  distinguished  as  Dr.  Bellows  for 
strict  adherence  to  attainable  facts,  prove  the  urgent  necessity  there  is  for  this 
series  of  articles.  In  the  present  chapter  I  am  to  deal  with  that  large  casual 
class  which  gives  rise  to  these  gross  exaggerations,  and  I  cannot  do  a  better 
public  service  than  to  say,  by  way  of  preface,  that  the  professional  criminals  are 
less  than  3,000,  the  public  prostitutes  living  in  601  houses  of  ill-fame  and  using 
houses  of  assignation,  not  more  than  5,000,  the  licensed  grog-shops  over  7,000 
in  number,  and  the  gambling  establishments,  including  92  faro  banks  and  all  the 
places  where  lottery  tickets  are  sold,  less  than  600.  We  are  bad  enough  as  it 
is,  but  if  we  were  in  anything  like  the  condition  as  to  our  criminal,  disorderly, 
and  pauper  classes  asserted  by  common  rumor,  New  York,  rich  and  powerful  as 
she  is,  could  not  sustain  the  burden. 

No  class  is  more  costly  or  in  a  certain  way  more  offensive  to  the  metropolis 
than  that  which  drops  into  crime,  as  Mr.  Wegg  did  into  poetry,  as  an  occasional 
interlude  to  more  reputable  employment.  In  consequence  of  tlie  intense  energy 
of  its  journals  in  collecting  and  commenting  upon  news,  New  York  has  acquired 
a  reputation  for  lawlessness  which,  upon  a  candid  consideration  of  all  the  facts, 
is  found  to  be  in  a  measure  undeserved  ;  and  it  is  further  to  tlie  credit  of  the 
city  that  nearly  all  the  bad  repute  which  rightfully  belongs  to  it  is  due  to  its  am- 
ateur instead  of  its  professional  criminals. 

In  every  great  community  made  up  of  heterogeneous  materials,  there  are  al- 
ways a  large  number  constantly  hovering  on  the  outermost  edge  of  the  law, 
where  only  the  slightest  influence  is  required  to  pusli  them  beyond  it ;  and  this 
is  especially  true  of  New  York.  No  modern  city  has  a  population  so  mixed  and 
in  some  portions  more  dense,  or  is  so  liable,  from  certain  peculiarities  in  its  sys- 
tem of  government,  to  foster  the  disorderly  classes  which  produce  all  of  the  cas- 
ual crimes  and  much  of  the  squalor  of  the  great  city.  A  population  in  which  all 
nationalities  are  not  only  represented  but  intermingled,  which  is  struggling  with 
bitter  intensity  for  bare  subsistence,  and  which  imbibes  from  a  vicious  political 
system  a  dangerous  disregard  for  the  rights  both  of  person  and  property,  is  not 
one  which  can  be  expected  to  rigidly  observe  all  the  obligations  of  tlie  law. 
The  wonder  is  not  that  the  prisons  of  the  city  are  constantly  crowded,  and  that 
its  police  force  is  overtaxed  by  the  disorderly  classes,  but  that  these  lawless  ele- 
ments do  not  entirely  defy  restraint.  A  stranger  wandering  at  random  about  the 
city,  if  competent  to  correctly  judge  palpable  facts,  will  be  amazed  to  encounter 
so  little  violence  when  he  sees  everywhere  the  most  abundant  provocation  to 
outrages. 

The  city  has  7,500  licensed  places  where  intoxicating  liquors  are  sold,  and 
the  majority  are  dens  where  only  the  vilest  stuiT  can  be  found.  The  best  of  fer- 
mented beverages  has  been  contemned  as  maddening  draughts  of  Ilippocrene, 
and  it  is  not  strange  that  the  use  of  such  as  those  retailed  in  New  York  should 
result  in  a  single  year  in  32,721  arrests  for  intoxication,  and  in  14,935  for  disor- 
derly conduct  ;  in  arrests  for  assault  and  battery  to  the  number  of  6,799,  ^"<^  f^""  ^^^^^ 


CASUAL  CRIMINALS.  25 

more  serious  crime  of  assault  where  a  deadly  weapon  was  used  875  daring  the 
same  period.  This  vast  army  of  casual  criminals  has  been  steadily  increasing 
from  year  to  year,  and  by  keeping  pace  with  the  increase  in  the  number  of 
liquor  dens  has  shown  the  source  of  its  recruitment.  It  is  this  army  of  casuals, 
rather  than  the  comparatively  small  squads  of  professional  thieves,  which  keeps 
the  vast  machinery  for  the  administration  of  correctional  law  in  constant  opera- 
tion, at  an  annual  expense  to  the  tax-payers  of  the  city  of  nearly  $4,000,000. 

The  maintenance  of  police  force  alone  cost  $2,837,836  in  1869,  exclusive  of 
building.  And  owing  to  the  lavishness  of  New  York  in  paying  the  highest 
possible  rates  for  the  least  possible  service,  the  five  police  courts  cost  nearly 
$200,000,  the  Court  of  Special  Sessions  only  about  $20,000,  and  the  Court  of 
General  Sessions  an  enormous  total  which  has  never  been  distinctly  divulged 
to  the  general  public,  but  must  approximate  $150,000.  This  police  force  and 
these  tribunals  would  rot  in  idleness  had  they  only  the  professional  outlaws  to 
restrain  or  punish,  and  would  scarcely  be  endured  by  the  public  which  supports 
them.  The  fact  is  therefore  evident,  that  a  view  of  the  nether  side  of  New  York 
would  be  incomplete  without  this  presentation  of  the  casual  criminals. 

There  is  the  high  authority  of  a  proverb  for  the  declaration  that  "  when  wine 
is  in,  wit  is  out,"  and  it  is  not  strange  that  the  stuff  sold  in  the  bar-rooms  of 
New  York  impels  men  to  play  such  fantastic  tricks  with  the  established  usages 
of  society  as  occasionally  get  them  inside  a  prison.  These  constitute  the 
most  numerous,  as  they  are  the  least  reprehensible  and  most  unfortunate,  of 
our  casual  criminals.  It  is  a  terrible  thing  to  get  so  drunk  in  New  York  as  to 
fall  into  the  hands  of  the  police,  for  the  debauch  is  followed  by  something  much 
more  serious  than  the  splitting  headache  which  is  said  to  be  its  usual  result. 
Men  of  property  and  general  respectability  can  speak  with  the  wisdom  of  sad 
experience  of  the  depletion  that  awaits  the  unfortunate  taken  in  the  act  of  com- 
mitting the  misdemeanor,  known  as  "being  in  the  public  street  in  a  state  of  in- 
toxication," So  long  as  he  is  in  the  hands  of  the  police,  the  culprit  guilty  of 
heinous  offence  is  entirely  safe.  If  he  is  arrested  during  hours  when  the  magis- 
trate is  sitting,  he  is  rushed  at  once  upon  his  fate  by  being  taken  immediately 
before  that  official,  provided  he  is  not  too  drunk  ;  but  at  other  hours  he  is 
locked  up  to  await  the  next  session  of  the  court.  When  taken  away  his  valua- 
bles, which  had  all  passed  into  ofificial  keeping  when  he  was  incarcerated,  are  re- 
turned to  him,  and  he  is  led  away  as  a  lamb  to  the  slaughter. 

As  producers  of  travesties  upon  law  and  justice,  the  police  courts  of  New 
York  are  unequalled.  Some  of  them  occasionally  regard  the  statutes  provided 
for  the  cases  presented  before  them,  but  it  is  always  safe  to  suppose  that  the 
most  of  them  will  be  a  law  unto  themselves  in  any  event,  but  especially  so  when 
dealing  with  intoxication.  There  are  five  police  courts  in  the  city,  four  of  which 
are  provided  with  two  magistrates  who  sit  alternate  weeks,  thus  making  in  reality 
nine  separate  tribunals,  and  with  two  or  three  exceptions  it  makes  little  differ- 
ence to  the  inebriate  which  one  he  is  taken  before.  If  he  is  a  poor  miserable 
wretch,  he  is  summarily  dismissed  with  a  commitment  for  ten  days;  but  if  he 
exhibits  signs  of  being  worth  the  plucking,  he  soon  realizes  how  dreadful  a  thing 
it  is  to  get  drunk.  The  forms  of  law  are  of  course  rigidly  observed,  but  the  law 
has  no  stronger  conviction  than  that  it  is  proper  to  "  fight  the  devil  with  fire,"  and 
is  provided  with  a  vast  armory  of  weapons  by  which  evil  may  be  wrought  with 
the  possibility  of  some  ultimate  good  being  achieved.  In  criminal  practice  none 
of  these  weapons  is  so  potent  or  so  often  used  as  the  "commitment  for  exami- 
nation," which  means  anything  or  nothing  as  the  exigencies  of  each  case  may  de- 


26  THE  NETHER  SIDE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

mand.  When  dealing  with  intoxication,  it  means  that  the  culprit  stays  in  the 
prison  below  durino;  the  pleasure  of  the  magistrate,  who  meantime  informs  the 
inquiring  friends  of  the  prisoner  that  he  is  fined  $io.  The  law  awards  that  sum, 
and  the  judge  so  relentlessly  exacts  it  when  there  is  the  faintest  cliance  of  get- 
ting it,  that  it  always  comes  before  the  prisoner  goes.  There  are  many  cases 
where  the  unfortunate  has  the  money  on  his  person,  when  of  course  this  device 
of  temporary  commitment  is  not  used,  as  he  hands  over  at  once  the  amount  de- 
manded, and  is  at  liberty  to  go  and  sin  as  often  on  the  same  terms  as  he  may 
please.  When  he  has  not  the  money  at  hand,  he  finds  to  his  great  sorrow  that 
the  penalty  of  the  law  is  only  a  small  part  of  the  tolls  he  must  pay  on  the  road 
to  liberty.  He  must  communicate  with  his  friends,  and  the  court  messenger 
never  stirs  without  a  fee.  He  is  so  unmanned  by  his  new  and  dreadful  position 
as  a  prisoner,  that  he  is  an  easy  prey  to  the  harpies  in  the  shape  of  shyster 
lawyers  who  infest  these  courts,  and  who  persuade  him  that  their  influence  or 
advocacy  is  a  pearl  of  great  price,  and  he  pays  for  it  accordingly.  If  in  the  end, 
when  all  expenses  are  counted  up,  he  gets  out  for  less  than  $50,  he  is  fortunate, 
and  the  money  is  the  least  of  the  losses  entailed  by  his  debauch.  He  has  ever 
afterward  the  consciousness  that  he  has  been  a  criminal,  however  casually,  and 
he  has  seen  how  great  a  mockery  is  the  administration  of  justice  which  he  en- 
joys, and  he  is  never  thereafter  worth  as  much  to  himself  or  the  community. 
There  is  nothing  so  likely  to  make  a  man  forget  his  obligations  both  private  and 
public  as  an  experience,  no  matter  how  slight,  in  the  police  courts  of  the  great 
city. 

But  the  hapless  man  who  only  gets  drunk  sees  only  the  surface  of  a  depravity 
that  is  wholly  visible  to  but  one  class  of  criminals  who  habitually  violate  the 
law,  but  only  casually  encounter  punishment.  There  are  over  six  hundred 
houses  of  public  prostitution  in  the  city,  and  the  inmates  of  at  least  half  of  them 
are  made  by  the  officials  to  understand  in  some  way  that  they  are  criminals.  In 
this  case  the  police  force  is  not  free  from  reproach,  for  it  is  asserted  as  a  general 
fact  that  blackmail  is  levied  upon  man}'  of  these  houses  as  the  price  of  tolera- 
tion, but  in  some  cases  tribute  is  exacted  by  the  process  familiarly  known  as 
"pulling."  Armed  with  a  warrant  which  authorizes  him  to  arrest  the  proprie- 
tress for  keeping  a  disorderly  house,  a  police  captain  or  sergeant  makes  a  sud- 
den raid  upon  the  selected  den  at  an  hour  when  it  is  certain  to  have  tiie  most  in- 
mates, and  carries  off  captive  everybody  he  finds  in  it.  The  prisoners  being  ar- 
raigned before  the  magistrate  issuing  the  warrant,  the  penniless  are  discharged, 
those  promising  something  better  committed  for  examination,  the  proprietress 
held  in  nominal  bail  to  keep  the  peace  or  for  appearance  at  a  trial  which  is  never 
to  occur,  and  that  is  all  the  public  ever  knows  of  the  affair.  It  is  to  the  credit 
of  some  of  the  magistrates  that  they  will  not  issue  these  warrants,  and  to  the  po- 
lice captains  or  sergeants  that  few  of  them  will  have  anything  to  do  with  the 
process  if  they  can  avoid  it.  There  are  a  few,  however,  who  seek  it  with  an 
avidity  that  shows  their  purpose,  and  the  frequency  witli  which  tliey  use  it  is 
sufficient  explanation  of  the  anomaly  presented  in  a  small  salary  covering  large 
expenditures.  The  same  means  Iiave  been  employed  to  bleed  the  gamblers,  and 
one  police  sergeant,  who  won  tlie  plaudits  of  the  newspapers  for  his  incessant  ef- 
forts to  put  an  end  to  the  sinful  game  of  faro,  suddenly  concluded  his  labors  to 
that  end  by  absconding  with  anotiier  man's  wife  and  some  thousands  of  dollars 
which  he  had  never  earned.  This  was  an  extreme  case,  but  in  a  modified  form 
it  is  one  that  almost  any  luckless  gambler,  or  any  one  of  those  sorrowful  wrecks 
of  womankind  that  float  into  the  streets  at  nightfall,  can  tell  you  is  constantly 


CASUAL  CRIMINALS.  ,27 

occurring.  Baited  but  hardly  hampered  by  authority,  known  to  be  constantly 
beyond  the  pale  of  the  law,  but  only  molested  at  the  dictates  of  capricious  greed, 
there  is  but  one  class  of  casual  criminals  more  to  be  pitied  than  these  poor  Mag 
dalens. 

The  second  division  of  the  army  of  casuals,  comprising  14,935  persons  ar- 
rested in  a  single  year  for  disorderly  conduct,  is  something  of  an  annoyance,  but 
scarcely  a  discredit  to  the  metropolis.  The  misdemeanor  is  a  vague  if  not  glit- 
tering generality,  and  depends  exclusively  upon  the  fancy  of  the  policeman 
making  the  arrest.  There  is  no  citizen  whom  it  is  safe  to  insure  against  being 
seized  to  answer  the  charge  at  the  station  house.  The  man  of  the  most  sterling 
worth  and  soundest  discretion  is  liable  to  become  involuntarily  involved  in  some 
street  dispute,  or  to  be  one  of  many  others  happening  to  be  spectators  of  some- 
thing occurring  in  a  thoroughfare,  which  an  arriving  policeman,  who  knows  noth- 
ing of  the  facts,  may  consider  provocative  of  a  breach  of  the  peace  ;  and  in  that 
case  it  usually  happens  that  if  there  is  any  one  in  the  crowd  having  less  to  do 
than  any  one  else  with  the  disturbance,  that  one  is  taken  to  answer  for  it.  All 
of  these  casuals  are  not  of  this  character,  but  where  they  are  worse  it  is  rarely 
that  they  are  guilty  of  anything  more  serious  than  a  disposition  to  wrangle 
without  sufficient  provocation.  The  crowding  of  men  together  generally  leads 
to  disputes  that  provoke  or  threaten  breaches  of  the  peace,  and  it  is  therefore 
natural  that  the  tenement  houses,  where  dozens  of  families  are  crowded  into  a 
limited  space,  should  produce  by  far  the  larger  portion  of  the  annual  crop  of  ar- 
rests for  disorderly  conduct.  The  offence  never  having  malice  as  an  ingredient, 
and  being  of  a  character  so  undefined  that  the  most  cautious  citizen  can  never 
be  certain  of  not  committing  it,  there  is  every  reason  to  believe  that  the  sub- 
stantial ends  of  justice  would  be  served  by  omitting  it  from  the  statutory  list  of 
acts  liable  to  penalties.  Its  presence  in  the  law  gives  the  police  patrolmen  a  dis- 
cretionary power  that  few  use  discreetly,  and  its  absence  would  inflict  no  greater 
evil  upon  the  community  than  to  stay  the  uplifted  hand  of  the  law  until  some  ac- 
tual crime  had  been  committed.  Generally  prevention  is  better  than  cure,  but 
in  this  case  it  is  so  impossible  to  say  what  is  to  be  prevented,  that  the  proverb 
does  not  apply. 

The  next  division  of  the  casual  host  numbers  only  6,799,  '^"d  '^^  turpitude  is 
greater  only  in  the  degree  that  blows  are  more  criminal  than  hot  words.  "As- 
sault and  battery,"  as  the  law  terms  it,  although  there  is  rarely  any  battering 
and  usually  but  little  assault  about  it,  is  the  simplest,  most  natural,  and  least  re- 
proachful of  the  actual  crimes  of  which  the  law  takes  cognizance.  To  strike  an- 
other a  blow  with  the  "closed  fist,"  as  the  complaints  allege.  Is  certainly  an 
overt  breach  of  the  peace,  "against  the  peace  and  dignity  of  the  State,  and  con- 
trary to  the  statute  in  such  case  made  and  provided,"  but  it  does  not  brand  the 
perpetrator  as  the  most  heinous  of  malefactors,  nor  even  stamp  him  as  a  danger- 
ous character.  When  a  man  gets  into  an  affray  and  uses  no  other  than  natural 
weapons,  there  may  be  much  good  left  in  him,  and  he  is  deserving  of  much  greater 
consideration  than  is  generally  shown  these  violators  of  the  law.  Any  of  us  are 
liable  to  let  passion  get  the  better  of  discretion,  and  so  give  the  blow  which  the 
law  declares  a  punishable  misdemeanor ;  but  it  should  not  follow,  as  it  often 
does,  that  if  the  casual  criminal  happens  to  be  one  able  to  satisfy  the  offended 
statute  with  exemplary  damages,  he  should  be  mulcted  accordingly.  And  he 
is  further  to  be  commiserated  from  the  fact  that  whatever  penalty  is  taken  is 
exacted  by  the  forms  of  law  perhaps,  but  contrary  to  its  letter,  for  the  statistics 
show  that  final  disposition  is  made  of  more  than  half  these  cases  in  the  police 


28  THE  NETHER  SIDE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

courts.  In  the  vear  only  2,242  of  these  cases  were  examined  in  t!ie  Special  Ses- 
sions, and  it  is  fair  to  presume,  from  the  general  knowledge  to  be  obtained  of 
those  institutions,  that  a  large  proportion  of  the  remaining  4,557  had  a  most  sor- 
rowful e.xperience.  Yet  in  many  of  the  cases  the  offence  in  itself  was  trivial,  and 
would  have  been  fully  punished  by  the  brief  imprisonment  which  must  always  be 
endured  before  a  magistrate  is  reached. 

But  these  remarks  apply  to  only  a  portion  of  those  arrested  for  assault  and 
battery,  as  there  are  many  who  get  less  of  punishment  than  they  deserve. 
Nothing  breeds  so  fast  in  a  great  city  liberally  supplied  with  drinking  saloons, 
as  a  reckless  turbulence  vvhicJi  is  so  akin  to  that  malicious  disregard  of  human 
life  which  is  the  essential  ingredient  of  murder,  that  the  difference  is  scarcely 
perceptible.  A  large  proportion  of  the  assaults  being  bar-room  fights,  an  of- 
fence that  is  venial  in  itself  becomes  alarming  in  its  suggestion  of  the  enormous 
number  of  apprentices  in  the  art  of  homicide  which  the  city  harbors.  There  are 
thousands  of  youths  between  fifteen  and  twenty-one  years  of  age  constantly 
roaming  the  streets,  who  give  the  city  nearly  all  of  its  disrepute,  and  furnish 
nine-tenths  of  its  murderers.  Their  first  lawlessness  is  committed  by  the  blow 
with  the  "closed  fist,"  but  after  a  short  season  of  this  weak  warfare  on  mankind 
they  are  apt  to  be  armed  with  deadly  weapons,  and  from  being  annoying  pests 
become  grave  perils.  They  are  casual  criminals  only  during  the  brief  years  of 
boyhood,  and  soon  ripen  into  habitual  vagrants,  thieves,  or  rufiSans,  and  in  each 
case  become  public  burdens.  Sodden  with  vile  liquor,  ready  to  give  insult 
without  provocation,  indescribably  filthy  in  language,  person,  and  habits,  they 
are  entitled  to  a  great  deal  less  of  grace  at  the  hands  of  the  authorities  than  they 
get.  For  they  who  deserve  the  most  receive  the  least  of  the  penalties  meted 
out  to  the  crime  of  assault  and  battery,  and  so  generally  escape  all  punishment 
that  they  comprise  nearly  the  whole  of  the  great  number  of  cases  where  the  of- 
fender is  paternally  told  to  go  and  sin  no  more,  which  injunction  is  so  little  re- 
garded that  the  admonition  must  be  and  is  often  repeated. 

The  next  division  of  the  casuals,  represented  by  875  arrests  during  the  last 
year  of  which  police  statistics  have  been  published,  is  composed  almost  exclu- 
sively of  those  ruffians  who  have  naturally  advanced  from  the  fist  to  the  bludgeon, 
knife,  or  pistol.  There  is  nothing  unnatural  in  the  fact  that  there  have  been  this 
number  of  deadly  affrays  in  New  York  in  a  single  year,  nor  is  there  in  it  full  jus- 
tification of  all  the  reproach  which  has  been  heaped  upon  the  city,  but  there  is 
certainly  in  it  a  warning  that  must  be  heeded.  The  fact  that  murder  is  at- 
tempted 875  times  in  a  single  year,  and  avoided  in  all  but  about  sixty  cases  by 
the  accident  that  the  inflicted  wounds  do  not  happen  to  prove  fatal,  is  one  of 
grave  import,  whicii  is  in  no  wise  lessened  by  the  other  fact  that  almost  without 
exception  these  felonious  assaults  are  committed  by  casual  and  not  by  profes-  . 
Bional  criminals.  In  the  long  list  of  metropolitan  murders  during  the  past  dozen 
years,  the  celebrated  Rogers  and  Nathan  crimes  are  almost  the  only  ones  done 
by  professionals.  Ninety  times  in  a  hundred  homicide,  attempted  or  completed, 
has  liquor  as  the  first  cause,  and  is  the  work  of  those  youthful  ruffians  who,  be- 
ing reputably  employed  during  the  greater  part  of  their  time,  are  the  most  dan- 
gerous of  all  lawless  characters  during  their  periodical  debauches. 

The  latest  murder  reported  at  the  time  this  article  is  written,  is  a  most  start- 
ling illustration  of  this  general  truth.  Several  young  men,  all  under  twenty-one 
years,  all  having  trades  at  which  they  worked  in  the  intervals  between  their 
drinking-bouts,  and  none  of  whom  were  known  to  be  thieves,  on  a  late  Sunday 
entered  a  lager-bier  saloon  in  First  avenue.     They  demanded  liquor,  which  be- 


CASUAL  CRIMINALS.  29 

ing  furnished  they  answered  a  request  for  payment  by  a  combined  attack  upon 
the  barkeeper,  who  having  been  knocked  down,  kicked,  and  beaten  until  he  was 
disabled,  one  of  the  party,  holding  a  pistol  close  to  his  head,  fired  a  shot  which 
produced  death,  and  thus  ended  a  wanton  outrage  with  deliberate  murder. 
These  youths  had  barely  escaped  this  horror  scores  of  times  before  on  the  same 
da}',  during  the  whole  of  which  they  had  been  roaming,  frenzied  with  drink,  from 
saloon  to  saloon,  everywhere  demanding  liquor  and  invariably  refusing  to  pay 
for  it.  The  terrible  significance  of  this  tragedy  is  not  abated  by  the  knowledge 
that  while  the  Metropolitan  Excise  law  was  in  force  it  could  not  have  occurred 
when  it  did  ;  for  it  makes  little  difference  to  a  city  where  rum-crazed  ruffians  reel 
through  the  streets  heavily  armed,  whether  they  use  their  deadly  weapons  on 
Sunday  or  some  other  day. 

If  this  were  an  exceptional  case»  it  might  be  dismissed  as  a  frightful  anomaly ; 
but  it  is  unfortunately  an  occurrence  which  happens  every  day,  in  a  form  modi- 
fied certainly  by  the  chances  of  each  affray,  but  with  the  ingredient  of  murder 
present  in  every  instance.  Almost  every  hour  of  every  night  some  of  these 
reckless  ruffians  are  roaming  about  the  city,  loaded  with  revolvers  or  knives, 
ready  to  use  their  weapons  on  all  occasions  ;  and  if  they  get  through  tlie  night 
without  an  aftVay,  it  is  due  to  accident  rather  than  purpose.  Out  of  the  ranks  of 
g'these  lawless  youths  have  come  all  those  noted  desperadoes  of  whom  the  late 
Dave  O'Day  was  a  leading  example,  and  who  have  made  New  York  a  reproach 
the  world  over.  Yet  these  men  are  not  criminals  in  the  professional  sense,  as 
they  do  not  gain  their  livelihood  by  their  lawlessness,  but  by  some  legitimate  em- 
ployment, and  their  crimes  are  committed  during  their  respites  from  labor. 
They  are  simply  the  natural  products  of  a  civilization  that  fires  its  recklessness 
with  rum,  then  arms  it  with  a  pistol,  and,  turning  it  into  the  street  to  see  what 
will  come  of  it,  pretends  to  be  horrified  when  blood  comes  of  it.  There  was  a 
ghastly  scene  one  morning  in  a  basement  eating  house  at  the  corner  of  Canal 
and  Hudson  streets,  where  a  party  of  infuriated  beasts  had  endeavored  to  bring 
a  spree  to  a  satisfactory  end  by  the  murder  of  their  host,  but  had  one  of  them- 
selves killed  in  his  stead,  and  the  city  duly  shuddered  when  presented  with  the 
horrible  details.  There  was  a  companion  picture  to  this  warning  scene  pre- 
sented a  few  months  later,  when  Dave  O'Day,  who  was  a  chief  actor  in  the  first, 
died  as  he  had  lived,  by  the  hand  of  violence.  Again  the  city  was  appalled,  and 
her  rivals  pharisaically  rejoiced  that  they  were  not  as  she  ;  but  in  neither  case 
did  the  city  strike,  or  her  contemners  advise  her  to  strike,  at  the  system  which 
made  possible  these  horrors,  which  were  only  exaggerations  of  incidents  occur- 
ring every  day. 

It  is  true  that  there  must  be  some  turbulence  in  a  great  city  of  mixed  popu- 
lation, but  it  is  also  true  that  there  are  more  displays  of  violence  in  New  York 
than  should  be  permitted.  The  experiment  of  restraining  the  liquor  traffic  was 
only  a  partial  success,  and  that  experiment  having  shown  that  in  spite  of  all 
restriction  a  certain  number  of  people  will  get  drunk,  and,  being  drunk,  will 
disregard  all  law,  divine  or  human,  it  should  also  have  suggested  the  propriety 
of  devising  some  more  effectual  safeguard  for  human  life.  If  the  ruffians  only 
killed  each  other,  there  might  be  enough  in  this  result  to  recompense  the  com- 
munity for  the  trampling  on  the  law  involved  in  reaching  it ;  but  it  unfortunately 
happens  that  the  wrong  man  is  generally  killed,  and  it  is  therefore  absolutely 
essential  that  something  effective  should  be  done  to  prevent  them.  It  may  be 
interfering  with  personal  liberty  to  a  dangerous  extent,  to  make  the  mere  carry- 
•>ng  of  any  deadly  weapon  a  felony  ;  but  all  police  experience  goes  to  show  that 


30  THE  NETHER  SIDE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

this  device  will  decrease  the  number  of  felonious  assaults  more  than  two-thirds, 
and  that  anything  short  of  it  will  have  no  effect  whatever  in  checking  them. 
The  law  prohibits  the  carrying  of  what  it  terms  ''concealed  weapons,"  but  only 
such  things  as  slung-shots  are  included  in  the  designation,  and  it  is  a  remarka- 
ble proof  of  the  efficacy  of  the  provision  that  the  use  of  a  slung-shot  is  a  very 
rare  occurrence  in  New  York.  The  ruffian  avoids  the  weapon  with  scrupulous 
care,  because  he  knows  that  he  is  always  liable  to  be  arrested  for  intoxication  or 
disorderly  conduct,  and  if  it  is  found  upon  him  when  searched  at  the  station- 
house,  the  more  frivolous  charge  is  abandoned  and  he  is  sure  of  severe  punish- 
ment for  this  violation  of  the  statute.  There  can  be  no  doubt  that  if  the  law  in- 
cluded firearms  and  dangerous  knives  the  effect  would  be  the  same  ;  and  with 
their  teeth  thus  drawn,  our  drunken  brutes  would  be  comparatively  harmless. 
As  the  experiment  is  manifestly  worth  trying,  and  would  entail  no  hardship  upon 
the  reputable  citizens  who  never  carry  arms  of  any  kind,  it  is  singular  that  it  has 
never  been  ventured  upon. 

There  is  another  class  of  casual  criminals,  and  it  is  the  one,  with  perhaps  a 
single  exception,  which  is  "  more  sinned  against  than  sinning."  In  a  single  year 
7,031  persons  have  been  arrested  in  the  city  for  the  crime  of  theft,  of  which  number 
2,122  were  accused  of  grand  larceny,  and  4,909  of  petty  pilfering.  In  the  former 
case,  sympathy  would  in  nearly  every  instance  be  wasted  if  bestowed  upon  any 
of  these  prisoners,  as  they  are  offenders  who  have  subsisted  by  crime  for  years 
and  are  beyond  the  chance  of  reformation.  To  one  of  any  experience  in  the 
methods  and  appearance  of  criminals,  there  is  generally  little  difficulty  in  recogiz- 
ing  these  veterans  in  warfare  on  mankind;  but  when  a  number  of  alleged  petty 
thieves  are  arraigned  at  the  bar  of  a  minor  tribunal,  the  casual  is  liable  ^rom 
mere  carelessness  to  be  considered  as  a  professional  and  thus  suffer  gro<^3  injus- 
tice. The  hardened  thief  is  always  so  ready  with  a  harrowing  tale  of  pinching 
want  and  sudden  temptation,  that  when  it  is  the  saddest  truth  that  ever  fell 
from  human  lips  it  comes  to  incredulous  and  unsympathetic  ears.  Yet  in  a  city 
so  over-crowded  with  struggling  poor  as  this,  a  large  proportion  of  the  petty 
thefts  are  committed  by  persons  more  deserving  of  charity  than  censure.  The 
professional  outlaw  who  is  worthy  of  being  ranked  as  a  public  danger  strikes  at 
higher  game  than  the  unfortunate  who,  urged  to  crime  by  starvation,  purloins 
some  trifling  article  ;  and  although  it  would  not  be  safe  to  say  that  the  pettiness 
of  the  theft  removes  it  in  a  moral  sense  from  the  list  of  crimes,  these  cases  are 
always  sufficiently  questionable  to  claim  more  careful  investigation  than  they 
often  receive.  I  have  seen  more  of  such  cases  than  I  desire  to  ever  see  again  ; 
for  whether  the  plea  be  true,  or,  being  false,  is  so  told  as  to  appear  true,  t'-^^-e  'S 
more  pleasant  entertainment  than  to  hear  it  unavailingly  uttered  at  the  bar  of 
justice,  and  I  have  heard  it  so  uttered  scores  and  scores  of  times. 

Once  it  was  a  woman  whose  rags  and  gaunt  face,  made  terrible  by  the  wolf- 
ish eyes,  ought  to  have  been  full  confirmation  of  her  story,  who  told  of  a  hus- 
band dying  more  from  want  than  sickness,  and  of  three  children  crying  for 
bread.  She  had  begged  for  it  without  avail,  and  at  last  had  stolen  it.  The  crime 
was  a  venial  one  at  best,  but  the  outraged  law  that  could  be  so  merciful  at  times 
to  the  brawler  or  murderer  could  not  forgive  this  trivial  transgression,  and  the 
suffering  woman  was  sent  to  jail.  Again  it  was  a  boy,  not  more  than  ten  years 
old,  who,  dwarfed  by  penury,  was  small  and  puny.  He,  too,  had  the  ravenous 
eyes  and  hollow  cheeks  which  the  full-fed  professional  thief  cannot  counterfeit, 
and  he,  too,  told  a  story  that,  corroborated  as  it  was  by  his  appearance,  ought  to 
have  gained  him  forgiveness  rather  than  punishment.     In  this  case  it  was  a  shop 


CASUAL  CRIMINALS.  31 

boy  who  toiled  sixteen  hours  in  each  twenty-four  for  a  pittance  barely  sufficient 
to  keep  life  in  his  little  body,  and  who  had  struggled  hopefully  until  his  widowed 
mother,  stricken  down  by  sickness,  was  starving  at  home.  Then  he  stole  a  dol- 
lar from  the  till  of  the  shop,  and  being  detected  by  his  master  was  handed  over 
to  the  police  and  sent  to  the  House  of  Refuge  as  an  incorrigible  young  rascal. 
What  became  of  the  mother  I  never  knew,  but  most  probably  she  starved  to 
death,  which  is  by  no  means  an  uncommon  occurrence.  Only  yesterday,  when 
looking  over  the  mortuary  tables  for  the  week,  I  found  marasmus  credited  with 
the  taking  of  three  lives,  two  of  them  being  adults  ;  want  of  proper  food  was 
most  likely  the  origin. 

There  was  another  case  more  sorrowful  than  either  of  these,  for  it  handed  a 
rarely  beautiful  young  girl,  in  whom  honest  and  virtuous  instincts  were  yet 
strong  enough  to  rebel  against  her  fate,  over  to  a  life  of  shame  and  crime. 
Probably,  it  must  be  admitted,  it  was  a  diseased  heart  that  had  led  her  astray; 
for  being  poor  and  vain,  she  had  stolen  a  trifling  ribbon  from  the  shop  where 
she  was  employed.  She  had  not  the  excuse  of  actual  want  nor  of  a  desolated 
home  ;  but  she  was  for  all  that  only  a  casual  in  crime,  and  the  law  might,  wisely 
tempering  justice  with  mercy,  have  bid  her  go  and  sin  no  more.  But  the  law 
on  such  occasions  always  seems  to  act  as  if  it  were  very  much  afraid  that  crimi- 
nals are  about  to  disappear  from  the  earth,  and  therefore  does  its  best  to  secure 
a  future  supply  by  so  dealing  with  novices  in  wrong  as  to  make  sure  that  they 
shall  become  more  experienced.  So  in  this  case  the  unfortunate  girl  was  sent 
to  prison,  where  her  beauty  made  her  fatal  friends.  She  came  out  with  that  con- 
vict stain  which  the  uncharitableness  of  the  world  makes  indelible,  and  she  was 
naturally  forced  to  take  refuge  with  her  prison  associates.  The  last  I  heard  of 
her  she  was  a  professional  shop-lifter,  and  the  companion  of  a  noted  sneak  thief. 
Such  as  she  is  the  law  made  her,  and  as  she  is  certain  to  afford  it  a  reasonable 
amount  of  occupation,  it  ought  to  be  satisfied  with  its  work. 

These  may  be  called  extreme  cases,  but  they  are  such  as  are  liable  to  occur, 
and,  for  all  any  one  knows  to  the  contrary,  do  occur  every  day.  Nor  is  it  unusual 
for  apparently  able-bodied  men  to  plead  pinching  want  as  an  excuse  for  larceny, 
and  although  it  is  not  to  be  expected  that  they  should  receive  the  same  sym- 
pathy as  women  and  children,  their  tales  are  often  literally  true.  Thousands  of 
men  annually  drift  into  the  great  city,  victims  of  the  delusion  that  it  is  an  open 
mine  to  every  comer,  and  it  would  be  strange  if  many  of  these  were  not  forced 
to  beggary  and  some  to  crime.  Generally  they  are  men  who  are  untrained  in 
any  skilled  industry,  and  totally  unfitted  for  those  higher  spheres  of  human 
labor  in  which  there  is  plenty  of  room  in  town  and  country  alike.  Therefore 
these  men  become  casual  thieves  for  the  means  of  subsistence,  chiefly  because 
tiiey  have  not  the  means  to  get  away  from  the  city  where  they  have  first  dis- 
covered their  helplessness.  Such  men  might  be  nothing  but  public  burdens 
anywhere,  and  certainly  are  nothing  else  in  the  city;  yet  it  is  impossible  to  be 
entirely  unmoved  when  they  tell  how  they  have  sought  for  work  without  finding 
it,  and  were  finally  driven  to  theft.  Be  the  measure  of  their  sin  what  it  may, 
they  are  entitled  to  mention  as  forming  a  large  company  in  the  host  of  casual 
criminals. 

There  is  yet  one  other  class  of  these  incidental  doers  of  evil  that  is  apt  to 
make  a  man  of  common  humanity  snap  his  fingers  in  the  face  of  the  law  that  is 
responsible  for  its  existence.  Poverty  is  closely  akin  to  crime  the  world  over, 
but  an  ordinance  of  the  city  of  New  York  makes  it  an  oflfence  punishable  with 
arrest  and  imprisonment  to  beg  in  the  public  streets.     It  is  pleaded  in  extenua- 


33  THE  NETHER  SIDE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

tion  of  this  device  for  the  propagation  of  crime,  that  the  citj- bountifully  provides 
for  its  really  poor,  and  the  law  is  intended  to  suppress  only  the  charlatans  who 
have  made  beggary  a  profession.  Whatever  its  purpose,  it  has  worked  evil  and 
evil  only.  It  is  more  often  enforced  against  children,  who  have  been  sent  into 
the  streets  by  their  parents  to  beg  than  against  any  one  else.  It  is  freely 
granted  that  these  children  are  a  great  annoyance  in  pubh'c  places,  and  that  the 
parents  spend  the  money  thus  obtained  in  rum,  and  yet  the  wisdom  of  the  ordi- 
nance is  denied.  For  it  happens  when  the  law  is  put  into  practice  that  it  is 
chiefly  used  to  rid  the  fashionable  theatres  of  these  children,  who  gather  at  the 
entrances  to  solicit  alms  of  the  arriving  patrons.  This  is,  of  course,  at  an  early 
hour  of  the  evening,  when  the  courts  are  closed  for  the  day,  and  the  child  then 
arrested  is  necessarily  taken  to  a  station  house.  If  held,  as  many  of  them  are, 
they  are  locked  up  for  the  night  in  cells,  where  they  are  surrounded  with  thieves, 
prostitutes,  and  drunkards,  and  where  they  are  exposed  in  a  single  night  to 
more  corrupting  influences  than  any  child  ought  ever  to  encounter.  It  is  impos- 
sible that  they  should  be  unharmed  by  this  experience,  and  the  fact  is  that  they 
are  often  made  by  that  one  night  thieves  or  vagabonds  for  life.  They  might  be 
such  without  it,  but  the  ordinance  is  entitled  to  the  credit  of  changing  a  doubt 
into  a  certainty,  and  might  itself  be  suppressed  because  of  that  merit  with  profit 
to  the  public.  The  time  may  come  when  law-makers  will  realize  what  a  very  se- 
rious thing  it  is  to  lay  hands  upon  children  and  thrust  them  into  prisons,  and 
when  they  do  the  land  will  be  burdened  with  fewer  of  both  casual  and  profes- 
sional criminals. 

The  principal  divisions  of  the  casual  army  have  now  been  reviewed,  but  there 
are  several  small  bands  of  skirmishers,  one  of  which  must  be  briefly  mentioned. 
Meanest  of  all  the  casuals  are  the  blackmailers,  whose  achievements  are  a  libel 
upon  crime.  Any  respectable  burglar  would  sc6rn  to  watch  his  neighbor  or 
friend  for  the  purpose  of  taking  him  in  the  act  of  a  peccadillo,  which  being 
known  would  destroy  his  family  peace  or  standing  in  society,  and  then  charging 
the  highest  attainable  price  for  his  silence.  Yet  this  is  what  the  blackmailers  do 
whenever  the  opportunity  is  presented,  and  it  is  only  because  of  the  infrequency 
of  this  that  they  are  not  always  professional  instead  of  being  generally  casuals, 
who  spy  out  the  infirmities  of  friends  as  a  means  of  profitably  employing  the 
odd  hours  of  their  worthless  lives.  Seldom  punished,  as  those  entrapped  in  their 
meshes  dread  the  publicity  that  punishment  involves,  and  will  not  prosecute 
them,  the  blackmailers,  who  are  sometimes  men,  but  oftener  women,  ply  a 
trade  that  is  as  safe  as  it  is  infamous  ;  and  cases  have  been  known  where  it  was 
so  remunerative  as  well,  that  a  single  victim  has  been  plucked  of  thousands  of 
dollars.  More  heartless  and  depraved  than  any  professional  thief,  these  human 
vampires  are  a  pest  of  civilization,  which  would  not  be  endured  were  tlieir  deeds 
less  infamous  or  their  numbers  greater.  Fortunately  for  themselves  and  to  the 
credit  of  humanity,  no  class  of  criminals  is  so  small  or  has  so  few  recruits. 

AS  a  proof  of  the  existence  of  these  amateurs  in  villainy,  I  can  mention  one 
case  which  I  obtained  from  an  authentic  source.  A  young  butcher  who  was  do- 
ing a  prosperous  business,  happened  to  notice  an  elderly  gentleman  standing  on 
a  corner  in  a  somewhat  unsavory  quarter  of  the  city  looking  furtively  about  him. 
On  this  occasion  the  matter  did  not  receive  especial  attention,  but  happening  to 
see  the  same  gentleman  at  the  same  place  acting  in  the  same  way  on  several  sub- 
sequent days,  the  butcher  turned  the  matter  over  in  his  mind  until  he  came  to 
the  conclusion  that  there  was  money  in  it.  Leaving  his  legitimate  business  to 
his  subordinates,  he  devoted  himself  to  watching  the  elderly  gentleman  whose 


CASUAL  CRIMINALS.  33 

appearance  to  a  close  observer  like  tlie  blackmailer,  showed  tliat  he  was  worth 
plucking.  For  several  days  the  self-imposed  dirty  task  of  the  butcher  was  bar- 
ren of  the  desired  result,  but  he  was  finally  rewarded  by  seeing  the  gentleman 
meet  a  lady,  and  in  tracing  them  to  a  house  of  assignation  which  he  saw  them 
enter  together.  This  was  satisfactory  as  a  step  forward,  but  he  was  yet  ignorant 
of  the  identity  of  either  party,  and  had  yet  much  work  before  him.  He  waited 
until  the  pair  came  out,  and  after  they  separated,  as  they  did  soon  after  leaving 
the  house,  he  followed  the  man  to  his  home  which  he  found  to  his  great  relief  to 
be  the  abode  of  wealth.  Not  yet  possessed  of  all  the  facts  required  for  his  op- 
erations, he  watched  again,  until  he  traced  the  pair  once  more  to  the  house  of 
assignation.  Again  he  waited  until  they  reappeared,  and  this  time  followed  the 
woman  to  her  home,  which  was  a  difficult  task,  as  she  took  a  very  tortuous 
route,  but  he  kept  close  upon  her  through  all  her  turnings,  and  finally  traced 
her  to  a  liighly  respectable  house  in  Brooklyn.  He  had  now  laid  the  foundation 
for  his  operations,  which  were  simple  in  the  extreme  but  as  effective  as  they  were 
simple.  His  first  step  was  to  write  a  letter  to  the  man  telling  him  that  he 
knew  of  his  liaison  and  demanding  an  interview.  That  was  of  course  immediately 
granted,  and  when  they  met  the  blackmailer  demanded  $1,000  as  the  price  of 
his  silence,  and  the  money  was  given  him.  The  woman  was  then  approached, 
and  she  too  finding  herself  in  the  nets  of  the  toiler,  paid  him  $500.  She  was 
not  again  molested,  but  the  man  was  fleeced  again  and  again  until  he  had  been 
robbed  of  nearly  $10,000,  and  he  was  finally  compelled  to  fly  from  the  city  in 
order  that  he  might  save  any  of  his  property.  The  butcher  meantime  prospered 
•on  his  spoils,  and  was  so  utterly  without  conscience  that  he  boasted  of  his  ex- 
ploit, and  announced  his  purpose  to  repeat  at  the  expense  of  new  victims  when- 
ever the  opportunity  should  be  presented. 

This  may  have  been  an  extreme  case,  and  I  hope  for  the  credit  of  humanity 
that  it  was  ;  but  I  have  the  names  and  dates  of  others  of  the  same  general  char- 
acter which  are  scarcely  less  flagrant  in  their  incidents.  It  seems  incredible  that 
men  will  pay  such  large  sums  as  hush  money  when  they  are  detected  in  crimes 
or  peccadilloes,  but  the  fact  is  indisputable.  There  are  many  cases  on  the  police 
records  to  show  that  where  only  breaches  of  financial  trusts  have  been  involved, 
the  fears  of  the  culprits  have  been  so  worked  upon  that  they  have  surrendered 
far  more  than  the  product  of  their  transgressions  to  the  blackmailer.  Cases  of 
this  kind  have  led  to  many  suicides  and  to  numerous  "  mysterious  disappearan- 
ces," where  the  victims  finding  their  condition  at  last  to  be  intolerable  seek  refuge 
in  death  or  in  sudden  flight  to  unknown  parts,  and  are  never  seen  again  in  their 
old  haunts.  I  can  most  forcibly  illustrate  how  general  and  abject  is  the  fear  of 
these  vampires  by  narrating  a  case  which  was  told  me  by  one  of  the  two  persons 
immediately  concerned.  A  merchant  of  mature  years  and  most  reputable  stand- 
ing, who  was  married  and  had  a  large  family,  formed  an  illicit  connection  and 
established  his  paramour  in  a  house  in  a  retired  street.  This  house  soon  excited 
curiosity  as  to  its  inmates,  which  was,  however,  very  difficult  to  gratify.  One 
stormy  winter  night  a  gentleman  happened  to  pass  the  house  at  the  instant  the 
door  was  opened  and  the  merchant  was  about  to  step  out.  The  latter  se'eing 
some  one  in  the  street  stepped  hastily  back  and  closed  the  door.  This  roused 
the  curiosity  of  the  gentleman,  who  posted  himself  in  the  shadow  of  a  tree  and 
waited  for  the  other  to  come  out.  When  he  did  so  the  gentleman  stepped  brisk- 
ly out  so  that  the  two  met  and  stared  at  each  other  in  the  light  of  the  street 
lamp.  The  gentleman  seeing  an  entire  stranger  laughed  inwardly  at  his  fool- 
ishness, and  dismissing  the  incident  from  his  mind,  went  his  way.     It  so  hap- 


34  THE  NETHER  SIDE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

pened  that  the  next  day  the  gentleman,  who  was  an  insurance  surveyor,  had 
business  with  the  firm  of  B.  &  Co.  The  moment  he  entered  the  counting  room 
and  said  to  Mr.  B.,  "  Well,  I've  come  to  see  about  that  matter,"  that  gentleman 
turned  color  and  stammered  out  that  it  was  all  right.  The  surveyor,  who  had 
not  recognized  the  merchant  as  the  person  he  had  seen  the  previous  night,  said 
he  supposed  that  it  was  all  right,  but  he  wished  to  see  that  it  was.  Mr.  B.,  with 
great  trembling,  took  him  into  a  private  room  and  eagerly  asked  how  much  he 
wanted.  The  astonished  surveyor,  looking  more  carefully  at  his  questioner, 
recognized  him  and  hastened  to  inform  him  that  he  was  not  a  blackmailer,  but 
was  an  insurance  surveyor  who  had  called  to  see  about  some  new  heating  ar- 
rangements in  the  store,  which  bore  upon  the  insurance.  A  sigh  of  relief  escaped 
the  merchant,  and  becoming  satisfied  that  his  secret  was  safe  with  its  new  pos- 
sessor he  regained  his  composure. 

There  is  little  need  to  multiply  these  illustrations  of  the  extreme  meanness 
of  which  human  nature  is  sometimes  capable,  but  as  blackmailers  are  more  often 
women  than  men,  I  must  fortify  myself  with  at  least  one  citation.  A  young  man 
of  general  good  character  and  excellent  position  and  prospects,  who  was  the 
paying  teller  of  a  bank,  was  so  unfortunate  as  to  become  entangled  in  the  meshes 
of  a  woman  who  had  not  even  beauty  to  offer  as  an  excuse  for  her  frailty.  She 
soon  began  to  extort  money  from  him  by  threatening  to  expose  him,  and  at  last  be- 
came so  importunate  that  she  appeared  regularly  every  week  in  the  street  before 
the  banking-house  to  receive  her  hush-money,  which  every  week  she  increased 
in  amount.  The  savings  of  her  victim  had  been  exhausted,  and  he  had  made  one 
abstraction  from  the  funds  of  the  bank,  when  fortunately  for  him  a  police  cap- 
tain who  knew  the  woman  happened  to  notice  her  before  the  bank,  and  by  wait- 
ing and  watching  possessed  himself  of  her  purpose.  He  then  took  her  in  custo- 
dy, and  by  dint  of  threats  which  he  knew  he  could  never  fulfil,  he  managed  to 
frighten  her  from  her  prey,  and  the  young  man  was  saved. 

These  cases  might  be  multiplied  endlessly,  but  I  have  said  enough  to  justify 
my  general  denunciation  of  these  harpies.  With  the  exception  of  these  few  mon- 
sters, the  casual  criminals  are  entitled  more  to  pity  than  censure.  They  are  the 
victims  of  circumstances,  or  of  a  recklessness  born  of  a  legal  blunder,  and 
their  crimes,  even  when  so  serious  as  the  shedding  of  blood,  never  have  their 
origin  in  total  depravity. 


HARBOR   THIEVES. 


SAUL  and  Hewlett  are  among  the  most  noted  names  in  the  criminal  annals 
of  New  York,  Members,  and  in  some  sense  leaders  of  a  gang  of  daring 
pirates  infesting  the  harbor  of  the  metropolis,  they  crowded  years  of  infamy 
into  the  short  span  of  boyhood,  and  achieved  the  bad  eminence  of  the  gallows 
on  the  28th  of  January,  1853.  Saul  was  then  only  twenty  vears  of  age,  and  How- 
lett  was  even  a  year  his  junior. 

Young  as  they  were,  they  were  early  patriarchs  in  crime.  And  yet,  while 
hundreds  of  outrages  upon  persons  and  property  were  reasonably  attributed  to 
them,  only  one  was  at  last  and  with  great  difificulty  legally  brought  home  to 
their  doors.  That  one  was  a  brutal,  wanton  murder,  committed  on  the  night  of 
the  25th  of  August,  1852,  on  board  the  ship  Thomas  Watson,  then  anchored  in 
the  East  river,  when  they  killed  Charles  Baxter,  the  watchman  of  the  vessel, 
who  had  detected  them  in  the  act  of  robbing  it.  The  crime  had  no  human  wit- 
ness, and  the  two  boy  desperadoes,  with  a  drunken  associate  sprawled  helplessly 
in  the  bottom  of  their  boat,  rowed  leisurely  ashore,  carelessly  counting  up  the 
gains  of  the  night,  and  without  a  thought  that  they  had  done  their  last  murder. 

General  suspicion  and  bad  repute  rather  than  direct  evidence  led  to  the  drag- 
ging of  that  sad  tragedy  on  the  lonely  ship  into  the  light  of  law  and  retribution. 
Prior  to  that  night  Saul  and  Howlett  had  been  well  known  to  the  police  as  har- 
bor thieves,  and  were  suspected  of  several  mysterious  homicides  which  had 
occurred  within  a  few  months  on  the  water  fronts  ;  but  no  positive  proof  of  their 
complicity  in  any  of  these  outrages,  with  the  then  imperfect  appliances  of  the 
detective  police,  could  be  obtained  against  them.  Still  they  were  so  much  sus- 
pected that  keen  policemen  of  all  ranks  kept  as  close  watch  of  them  as  was  pos- 
sible. 

Early  in  the  evening  of  the  25th  of  August  the  two  were  seen  by  a  patrol- 
man in  a  bucket-shop  of  the  Fourth  Ward.  The  officer's  attention  was  particu- 
larly directed  to  them  by  the  fact  that  William  Johnson,  one  of  their  associates, 
was  beastly  drunk,  and  he  stood  for  some  moments  before  the  door  debating 
with  himself  the  propriety  and  necessity  of  taking  that  wrecked  robber  to  the 
station  house.  Finally,  concluding  that  the  trouble  would  be  greater  than  the 
possible  reward,  he  passed  on  and  left  the  party. 

From  that  carouse,  protracted  to  a  late  hour,  the  two  pirates  passed  to  the 
robbery  of  the  Watson,  leaving  Johnson,  who  was  drunk  to  uselessness, 
stretched  in  the  bottom  of  their  small  boat  alongside.  While  rifling  the  vessel 
the  faithful  watchman  was  encountered,  and  murder  followed  as  a  natural  inci- 
dent of  the  robbery.  They  left  the  ship  unseen,  but  also  left  a  hat  behind  them  ; 
and  that  fact,  reinforced  by  independent  witnesses  to  many  of  their  movements 
on  shore  immediately  preceding  and  succeeding  the  murder,  finally  entangled 
them  in  the  meshes  of  the  law,  the  crime  was  traced  to  them,  and  they  at  last 
with  something  of  bravado  confessed  the  truth. 

Baxter's  murder  being  something  more  than  an  ordinary  crime,  and  the  feel- 
ing it  excited  being  intensified  because  it  was  the  last  of  several  similar  crimes 
which  had  crowded  upon  each  other's  heels,  called  forth  extraordinary  exertions 
upon  the  part  of  the  police.     The  best  men  of  the  force  were  put  upon  the  case 


36  THE  NETHER  SIDE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

v,-ith  George  W.  Walling,  now  an  inspector  and  valued  veteran  of  the  police  ser- 
vice, at  their  head.  Their  investigations  at  last  led  them  into  a  maze  of  crime 
then  unequalled  and  since  unparalleled  in  the  history  of  the  city.  It  was  found 
that  Saul,  Howlett,  and  Johnson  were  only  three  of  a  regularly  organized  band 
of  a  dozen  harbor  pirates,  most  of  whom  were  boys  under  eighteen  years  of  age, 
but  all  of  whom  were  experienced  criminals  who  had  incurred  almost  every  pen- 
alty of  the  most  comprehensive  crimes  act.  Young  as  they  were,  they  had 
formed  liaisons  with  abandoned  women,  and  made  them  their  partners  in  outrages 
no  less  than  in  love.  They  infested  the  rum-shops  near  the  piers,  lying  in  wait 
for  prey,  and  no  sum  of  money,  large  or  small,  ever  met  their  eye  but  they 
dogged  the  possessor  from  the  den  to  waylay  and  rob  him  at  the  first  suitable 
spot.  They  sent  their  women  at  night  into  the  fashionable  and  brilliantly 
lighted  promenades,  to  lure  to  their  hands  higher  game  than  came  naturally  to 
their  haunts.  They  lurked  on  the  deserted  piers  or  in  the  adjacent  streets  to 
intercept  and  fleece  boozy  sailors  or  belated  landsmen.  At  the  dead  of  night 
they  stole  oflf  in  small  boats  by  twos  and  threes,  and,  boarding  the  vessels  lying 
at  anchor,  rifled  them  with  impunity.  To  the  ships  moored  to  the  piers  they 
were  a  constant  menace  and  continual  loss,  as  they  went  on  and  off  them  at 
pleasure,  carrying  away  everything  movable. 

Every  night  for  many  months  was  occupied  in  these  spoliations,  and  there  is 
now  little  doubt  that  every  night  had  its  murder.  The  people  about  the  piers 
and  water  fronts  of  a  commercial  city  at  night  are  generally  rovers,  whose  disap- 
pearance causes  no  remark.  The  river  is  at  hand  to  receive  the  body,  and  gives 
it  back  to  the  eyes  of  men  only  when  all  traces  of  violence  done  in  life  are  ef- 
faced. The  work  of  murder  was  thus  made  one  of  comparative  safety.  With 
the  ordinary  footpad  or  the  burglar  homicide  is  a  last  resort,  as  he  must  always 
alarm  the  law  by  leaving  the  body  of  his  crime  to  tell  of  his  deed  ;  but  the  harbor 
pirates  secured  safety  rather  than  hazard  by  acts  of  violence  ;  and  sufficient  evi- 
dence of  their  habits  was  procured  to  make  it  certain  that  murder  was  a  means 
commonly  used  to  destroy  the  proofs  of  lesser  crimes.  A  man  robbed  and  left 
to  go  his  way  might  prattle  to  a  policeman  on  the  next  block  ;  but  a  man  robbed, 
murdered,  and  thrown  over  a  pier,  was  certain  not  to  tell  of  the  lesser  grievance 
and  very  rarely  to  make  known  the  greater.  The  logic  was  conclusive  to  the 
piratical  mind  and  practically  acted  upon. 

No  one  will  ever  know  what  human  lives  these  ruthless  outlaws  destroved  ; 
but  from  confessions  made  by  different  members  of  the  band,  meagre  details  of 
some  of  their  deeds  were  obtained.  One  of  these  cases  was  a  most  atrocious 
crime,  where  a  stranger  was  lured  into  an  alleyway  by  one  of  the  women  and 
struck  on  the  head  with  a  slung-shot  by  her  male  confederate  as  he  stood  talking 
to  her.  His  pockets  were  rifled,  and  the  two  wretches,  without  taking  the 
trouble  to  see  if  he  was  dead  or  merely  stunned,  dragged  him  to  the  river  a  few 
rods  away  and  threw  him  in.  Another  case  was  where  two  of  them  met  a  Ger- 
man at  midnight  on  the  deserted  Battery,  and  although  any  thief  of  mettle  would 
have  disdained  to  meddle  with  so  pitiful  an  object,  they  attacked  him,  one  of 
them  dealing  the  poor,  homeless  wanderer,  as  he  in  fact  was,  a  blow  with  a 
slung-shot  which  instantly  killed  him.  Having  obtained  twelve  cents  as  the  en- 
tire reward  of  their  crime,  they  threw  the  body  over  the  Battery  wall;  but  it 
lodged  upon  the  ice,  where  it  was  found  next  morning,  to  furnish  a  horror  to  the 
city  and  an  insoluble  mystery  to  the  detectives.  Another  case  brought  home, 
but,  like  all  the  others,  without  legal  evidence,  to  the  miscreants,  was  a  wholesale 
and  equally  unprofitable  and  needless  homicide.     Four  of  the  pirates  in  a  small 


HARBOR  THIEVES.  37 

boat  encountered  three  sailors  rowing  to  their  ship  anchored  in  the  North  river, 
stopped  them,  robbed  them  of  the  few  pennies  they  had,  and  then,  without  other 
cause  or  excuse  than  to  get  their  boat  also,  threw  the  poor  wretches  overboard, 
and  they  were  drowned.  These  five  murders  were  certainly  chargeable  to  the 
gang,  as  was  shown  by  the  police  reports  written  out  at  the  time  and  filed  in  the 
District  Attorney's  office.  These  have  since  disappeared,  however,  and  nothing 
can  be  now  obtained  but  the  outlines  of  that  terrible  era  in  the  history  of  New 
York  as  it  survives  in  the  memory  of  the  officers  who  made  the  investigations. 
This  narrative,  being  obtained  from  that  source,  necessarily  lacks  the  details  of 
horrors  which  have  never  been  fully  divulged,  and  which,  being  only  partially  sus- 
pected, sent  a  shudder  through  the  metropolis. 

If  hanging  ever  did  any  good,  it  was  in  the  case  of  Saul  and  Hewlett.  That 
crisp  January  morning  when  they  were  strangled  by  due  process  of  law  in  the 
yard  of  the  Tombs  prison,  where  so  many  since  that  time  have  suflFered,  was  the 
last  of  their  band  and  its  methods.  Since  that  time  murder  as  a  cover  of  rob- 
bery has  been  utterly  unknown  in  the  harbor  or  about  the  piers,  and  for  a  long 
time  even  property  was  comparatively  safe.  Piracy  at  the  door  of  a  great  city 
was  ended  by  a  judicial  homicide,  and  the  apologists  of  a  barbarism  had  an  ar- 
gument that  comes  in  their  way  only  once  or  twice  in  a  lifetime.  But  they  made 
more  use  of  it  than  the  facts  warranted ;  for  although  the  execution  certainly  put 
an  end  to  habitual  harbor  homicides,  it  by  no  means  extinguished  river  rob- 
beries. For  a  time,  it  must  be  admitted,  there  were  few  of  these  depredations ; 
but  the  thieves  soon  became  normally  active,  and  the  average  of  losses  at 
their  hands  soon  rose  to  what  it  had  been,  and  continued  to  increase  until  the 
establishment  of  the  harbor  police,  under  the  metropolitan  system,  made  their 
calling  more  hazardous  and  their  gains  less  certain.  But  the  improved  surveil- 
lance— 'Or  rather  the  fact  of  police  protection  to  vessels  in  the  harbor,  as  prior  to 
that  time  there  had  been  none  at  all — has  made  no  other  change.  The  harbor  thief 
of  to-day  differs  from  his  predecessor  of  the  Saul  and  Howlett  epoch  in  the  fact 
that  he  habitually  threatens  murder  and  never  does  it,  while  the  prototype  ha- 
bitually did  murder  and  never  threatened  it ;  in  every  other  way  the  ruffian  of 
Slaughter-house  Point  or  Hook  Dock  is  as  vicious,  dangerous,  and  as  much  an 
annoyance  and  expense  to  the  community  as  the  worst  rascal  on  record. 

No  criminal  class  is  so  troublesome  and  costly  in  proportion  to  its  numbers 
as  the  harbor  pirates.  There  are  not  more  than  fifty  of  the  professional  water 
thieves  ;  but  they  so  multiply  themselves  by  industrious  plying  of  their  vocation 
that  each  of  them  answers  for  ten.  All  of  these  are  so  well  known  to  the  police 
that  the  gang  and  haunts  of  each  are  stored  away  in  the  memory  of  experienced 
officers,  which,  by  the  way,  is  the  only  record  of  criminal  matters  in  New  York  I 
have  been  able  to  find.  One  only  of  these  gangs,  and  that  but  few  in  numbers, 
infests  the  North  river,  having  a  rendezvous  at  the  foot  of  Charlton  street.,  There 
is  sufficient  reason  for  this  paucity  of  marauders,  as  the  west  water  front  of  the 
city  is  provided  with  covered,  well-lighted  piers,  and,  being  occupied  almost  ex- 
clusively by  ocean  steamers,  which  are  well  guarded,  offers  little  opportunty  for 
depredation.  The  Charlton  street  thieves  have  therefore  been  driven  into  regular 
piracy,  and,  provided  with  a  small  sloop  of  excellent  sailing  qualities,  ravages  the 
shores  of  the  North  river  almost  to  Albany.  Good  sailors  and  thorough  thieves 
as  they  are,  "Flabby"  Brown,  "  Big  Mike,"  Patsey  Higgins,  Mickey  Shannon, 
"  Big  Brew,"  and  "  Slip  "  Locksley,  who  are  all  the  members  of  the  North  river 
gang,  have  for  several  years  levied  wholesale  contributions  upon  the  farms  and 
hamlets  on  the  banks  of  the  lordly  river,  and  especially  during  the  past  summer 


^  THE  NETHER  SIDE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

became  a  romantic  terror  in  the  boldness  and  rapacity  of  their  operations,  and 
the  rumor  born  of  a  fervid  imagination  that  they  were  led  by  a  female  buccaneer 
of  marvellous  beauty  and  great  adroitness.  Having  this  extraordinary  aid,  their 
forays  were  unusually  successful,  and  the  gang  can  probably  get  through  the 
winter  when  up-river  raids  are  impossible  without  discomfort. 

The  harbor  thieves  proper  are  all  found  on  the  East  river  side  of  the  city, 
congregating,  when  not  at  work,  principally  at  "  Slaughter-house  Point,"  as  the 
intersection  of  James  and  Water  streets  is  named  in  police  parlance.  Hook 
Dock,  at  the  foot  of  Cherry  street,  and  at  the  foot  of  Roosevelt  and  of  Rivington 
streets,  the  desperadoes  of  the  river  being  found  at  the  first  two  localities. 

Thieves  are  gregarious  to  an  unusual  extent,  and  water  thieves  have  the 
quality  developed  to  an  extent  extraordinary  even  in  their  class.  Each  of  these 
gangs  is  so  entirely  distinct  in  every  respect,  that  a  member  of  one  will  rarelj 
be  found  with  one  of  either  of  the  others.  Yet  their  depredations  are  entirely 
similar  and  committed  in  precisely  the  same  way,  and  their  habits  in  their 
leisure  hours  are  in  no  way  dissimilar.  Their  days  are  spent  in  sleeping,  cheap 
drinking,  petty  gambling,  or  dickering  with  junkmen  for  the  disposition  of  plunder 
on  hand  or  to  be  acquired ;  and  their  evening  recreations  are  confined  to  the 
Bowery  drama  or  coarser  pleasures.  Social  outcasts  in  every  sense,  they  have 
no  domestic  ties  they  feel  bound  to  respect,  and  like  the  mass  of  thieves  in  gen- 
eral, they  are  improvident  to  the  recklessness  of  none  of  them  being  fore- 
handed with  the  world,  although  some  of  them  have  been  successful  depredators 
for  years  and  are  known  to  have  committed  robberies  which  should  have  made 
them  rich  long  ago.  Their  crimes,  as  a  rule,  are  safer  and  more  remunerative 
than  those  of  any  other  class  of  criminals.  The  burglar  oftener  makes  large 
hauls,  but  he  runs  more  risk  of  capture  ;  while  the  pickpocket  less  often  has  his 
booty  captured  by  the  police,  but  the  average  product  of  each  of  his  operations 
is  much  smaller.  The  water  thief  of  the  first  class  steals  only  staple  commodi- 
ties, and,  taking  them  in  such  shape  that  they  cannot  be  identified  by  the  owner, 
incurs  very  little  risk  of  punishment  or  loss,  even  should  he  be  captured,  as  he 
often  is,  with  the  stolen  property  in  his  possession.  But  while  this  peculiarity 
of  their  calling  adds  largely  to  the  vexation  and  losses  of  importers,  it  does  not 
increase  the  gains  of  the  thief,  who,  in  his  eagerness  to  clutch  a  little  money 
almost  throws  his  booty  away  to  the  junkman,  and  wastes  in  exceedingly  squalid 
pleasures  the  small  reward  of  cunning  persistence  and  daring  which  would  make 
him  of  large  account  in  the  world's  economy  if  legitimately  employed. 

No  man  works  harder  or  under  more  disadvantages  than  the  river  thief;  and 
none  suffers  more  from  exposure  to  the  weather,  unless  it  be  the  police  who  are 
constantly  on  the  alert  to  circumvent  him.  Six  to  eight  years  will  wear  out  all 
but  the  most  hardy  and  drive  them  into  the  congenial  haven  of  a  junk-shop, 
from  whence  they  make  occasional  forays  upon  shipping  in  the  old  way  ;  and 
it  is  amazing  that  the  river  thief  lasts  as  long  as  he  does.  Light  is  as  fatal  to 
his  acts  as  darkness  to  that  of  the  photographer  ;  and  so  thoroughly  is  gloom  an 
essential  of  his  calling,  that  he  can  endure  nothing  stronger  than  the  glimmer  of 
stars.  Even  this  he  abhors,  and  he  will  frequently  postpone  a  promising  enter- 
prise from  time  to  time,  waiting  for  a  night  when  the  darkness  shall  be  so  im- 
penetrable that  the  great  ships  throbbing  on  the  pulsing  river  are  utterly  iso- 
lated in  the  black  chaos.  If  in  addition  to  the  darkness  he  can  have  elemental 
turmoil  to  drown  the  sound  of  his  oars  or  of  his  stealthy  movements  aboard  ship, 
he  has  a  season  especially  suited  to  his  needs.  Therefore,  meteorological  condi- 
tions that  enforce  other  men  to  quiet  drive  him  into  abnormal  activity.     When 


HARBOR  THIEVES.  39 

the  very  blackest  shadows  of  night  have  settled  on  the  harbor,  and  a  great  wind 
is  whistling  through  the  forest  of  masts  and  driving  the  sobbing  tide  before  it,  he 
is  abroad.  If  a  beating  rain  be  added  to  the  darkness  and  wind,  he  is  still  better 
pleased  ;  or  if  a  heavy  mist  usurps  the  place  of  all  three,  he  is  equally  contented, 
for  it  hides  his  movements  from  prying  eyes,  and  his  sense  of  hearing  is  so  wonder- 
fully acute  that,  drifting  with  the  tide  in  the  dense  fog,  he  thinks  he  can  dis- 
tinguish the  thud  of  police  oars  from  all  others,  and  thus  forewarned  is  able  to 
avoid  the  dreaded  Nemesis  that  relentlessly  pursues  him  through  the  damp 
folds  of  fog  as  well  as  through  rain  and  tempest.  Whether  the  result  be  due  to 
accident  or  the  finesse  of  the  thief,  it  is  certain  that  misty  nights,  of  vviiich  we 
fortunately  have  very  few,  are  peculiarly  fatal  to  property  in  the  harbor,  and 
equally  propitious  to  the  thieves,  who  are  rarely  detected  when  favored  by  this 
atmospheric  condition. 

Weather  favoring,  the  river  thieves,  in  triplets  or  quartets,  glide  out  in  small 
boats  from  under  some  pier  near  their  haunts,  and  by  rapid  pulling  shoot  out 
into  the  middle  of  the  stream.  Whether  bound  to  the  Brooklyn  wharves  for 
choice  sugar  or  Java  coiTee,  or  to  the  lower  New  York  piers  for  fine  rice,  they 
invariably  first  seek  mid-stream,  and  dally  there  long  enough  to  baffle  conjecture 
as  to  their  intentions,  in  case  their  suspicious  departure  from  the  pier  had  beer 
noticed.  That  object  accomplished,  they  pull  slowly  and  watchfully  to  their 
destination,  and  always  pounce  upon  their  prey  from  the  water  side  by  gliding 
alongside  the  ship  to  be  rifled,  and  clambering  up  by  a  rope  which  carelessness 
has  left  hanging  over  the  side  ;  or,  if  this  be  v/anting,  they  sneak  around  to  the 
pier  side  and  reach  the  deck  by  the  lines.  The  hands  .of  a  vessel  discharging 
cargo,  being  overworked  during  the  day,  are  the  soundest  of  sleepers  ;  and 
when  the  thieves  get  on  board,  finding  probably  the  entire  crew,  including 
perhaps  the  watchman — who  has  at  least  been  driven  to  cover  by  the  inclement 
night — in  profound  slumber,  they  incur  little  risk  of  interruption  during  their 
subsequent  proceedings.  They  do  not  disdain  to  purloin  any  staple  article  ;  but 
especially  delighting  in  coff"ee,  sugar,  and  rice,  it  is  to  vessels  discharging  these 
cargoes  that  they  are  most  partial.  They  never  carry  off  a  pound  of  either  in  the 
original  package,  but,  always  going  with  bags  of  their  own  which  are  devoid  of 
trade-marks,  fill  them  by  abstraoting  from  the  importing  cases  or  bags  to 
the  utmost  capacity  of  their  boat,  and  then  pull  away  to  a  point  convenient  to 
the  shop  of  a  junkman  selected  beforehand  as  the  purchaser  of  the  plunder.  It 
is  when  thus  returning  laden  with  spoils  that  they  pass  the  critical  period  in 
their  operations,  as,  being  deep  in  the  water,  they  make  slow  progress  and  arc 
liable  to  be  overhauled  and  captured  by  the  police.  This  seeming  catastrophe 
occurs  to  some  of  them,  on  an  average,  about  four  times  per  week  ;  but  it  rarely 
results  in  anything  more  serious  than  temporary  inconvenience.  The  thieves 
are  lodged  in  the  nearest  station-house,  and  the  plunder  is  sent  to  the  Property 
Clerk  at  police  headquarters  ;  but  when  the  plunderers  are  arraigned  ne.xt  day 
before  a  magistrate,  they  have  the  easy  task  of  answering  an  intangible  sus- 
picion. 

They  were  found  in  possession  of  goods  supposed  to  have  been,  and  which 
had  in  point  of  fact  been  stolen  ;  and  the  police  rarely  fail  to  discover  to  a  moral 
certainty  the  precise  cargo  from  wliich  they  had  been  purloined.  But  tlie  legal 
proof  of  theft  is  as  rarely  obtained,  for  the  magistrates  stick  to  the  precise  tecli- 
nicality  of  the  law,  which  is  perhaps  right  enough,  and  demand  that  tlie  property 
shall  be  positively  identified.  It  is  not  enougli  that  the  importer  shall  testify  that 
on  the  night  the  thieves  were  taken  he  lost  property  precisely  similar  in  quality 


40  THE  NETHER  SIDE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

and  qiianlity  to  tliat  found  in  tlieir  possession,  but  he  must  swear  absolutely  to 
his  ownership  of  the  property  thus  found.  One  grain  of  coffee,  sugar,  or  rice, 
©r  one  bale  of  cotton  with  tlie  wrapper  stripped  off,  is  too  niucli  like  every  other 
grain  or  bale  to  permit  a  conscientious  person  to  take  such  an  oalli.  So  the  case 
fiills,  tlie  prisoners  are  discharged,  and,  being  prompt  to  demand  the  return  of 
their  property,  as  they  call  it,  tlie  courts  are  compelled  to  follow  the  technicality 
to  its  logical  conclusion  and  comply  with  the  demand. 

Sergeant  Edwin  O'Brien,  who  is  the  most  experienced  and  valuable  of  the 
harbor  police,  during  last  year  made  fifty-seven  arresfes  upon  the  river,  in  every 
one  of  which  cases  he  captured  noted  thieves  having  in  their  possession  at  the 
time  property  which  had  undoubtedly  just  been  stolen  ;  and  yet  he  secured  but 
three  convictions  out  of  the  whole  number.  In  all  these  cases  the  prisoners  had 
stolen,  as  usual,  in  bulk,  transferring  to  bags  of  their  own — a  process  technically 
called  "skinning";  and  as  they  thus  left  behind  trade-marks  which  could  be 
sworn  to,  the  owners  were  unable  to  identify  except  in  the  three  cases  where 
consciences  were  stretched  to  the  point  of  making  oath  to  the  property  itself. 

Some  years  ago,  however,  the  thieves  were  caught  in  an  unexpected  trap,  and 
numbers  of  them  compelled  to  do  the  State  considerable  service.  They  were 
just  then  particularly  attentive  to  ships  anchored  at  Quarantine,  and,  having  a 
long  pull  before  they  could  reach  a  covert,  were  very  often  captured  with  their 
plunder.  But  in  every  case  the  question  of  identity  baffled  the  law,  and  the  sole 
result  of  police  interference  was  the  relief  of  the  thieves  from  the  severe  manual 
labor  of  getting  their  spoils  to  a  market,  as  the  police  took  possession  of  goods 
as  well  as  thieves,  and  brought  both  to  the  city,  where  they  were  speedily  com- 
pelled to  surrender  both.  But  at  last  O'Brien  hit  upon  the  happy  thought  of 
ignoring  the  larceny  and  prosecuting  the  outlaws  for  violating  the  Quarantine 
laws  in  boarding  vessels  under  surveillance  ;  and,  being  fortunate  enough  to  ob- 
tain the  proof  in  several  instances,  got  his  prisoners  convicted,  and  thus  fright- 
ened their  fellows  off  the  Quarantine  grounds.  In  some  other  cases  the  thieves 
have  been  circumvented,  when  found  in  possession  of  stolen  goods,  by  abandon- 
ing the  charge  of  larceny  and  pressing  that  of  smuggling  ;  and  in  all  such  cases 
the  thieves  were  unable  to  say  when  or  where  they  paid  duties,  and  so  lost  their 
plunder,  the  goods  being  forfeited  to  the  United  States.  The  mention  of  these 
facts  has  been  made  solely  with  the  purpose  of  showing  how  difficult  it  is  to 
bring  these  marauders  to  any  kind  of  punishment. 

Among  the  first-class  river  thieves  whose  methods  and  dangers  have  been 
told,  there  are  some  who  stand  out  in  bold  relief  from  their  fellows  as  desperate 
and  successful  outlaws.  James  Lowry  and  Tom  Geigan,  two  of  this  class,  are 
relics  of  the  Saul  and  Hewlett  gang,  to  which  they  belonged  as  "kids,"  being 
then  mere  boys  not  more  than  ten  years  of  age,  but  already  noted  for  aptitude  in 
:rime.  During  the  seventeen  years  which  have  elapsed  since  that  terrible  epoch 
they  have  been  constantly  engaged  in  harbor  depredations  whenever  at  liberty. 
Both  have  often  been  arrested  ;  both  have  been  subjected  to  several  brief  terms 
of  imprisonment  and  have  returned,  to  be  again,  as  they  have  been  all  these  years, 
the  terrors  of  the  East  river.  During  their  long  careers  they  have  stolen  prop- 
erty to  the  value  of  hundreds  of  thousands  of  dollars;  yet  they  have  always 
lived  on  scanty  allowance,  and,  it  is  said,  are  as  poor  now  as  when  they  served 
Saul  and  Howlett  by  crawling  into  cabin  windows.  Both  are  men  of  extraordi- 
nary physical  powers,  which  are  yet  unimpaired,  notwithstanding  their  years  of 
exposure,  during  which  they  have  scarcely  been  visited  by  the  rheumatism,  which 
is  the  common  and  most  terrible  foe  of  all  their  tribe,  as  it  cripples  and  drives 
out  of  the  vocation  more  river  thieves  by  seventy  times  seven  than  the  law  ever 


HARBOR  THIEVES.  41 

did  or  ever  can.     Both  are  men  who  have  made  thievery  an  art,  and  have  prac- 
tised it  with  supreme  indifference  to  everything  but  their  own  safety  and  profit. 

Some  years  ago  a  cruel  act  of  piracy  was  committed  on  a  vessel  off  Riker's 
Island.  The  ship  was  boarded  by  thieves,  who,  finding  themselves  discovered  and 
resisted,  killed  the  mate  and  shot  the  captain  as  he  was  coming  up  the  compan- 
ion-way, inflicting  a  serious  wound.  Lowry  was  arrested  for  complicity  in  this 
crime,  but  the  proof  was  defective  and  he  was  finally  discharged;  but  whether 
guilty  or  not,  he  has  never  evinced  much  reluctance  to  resort  to  violence  to 
secure  his  safely.  Like  all  his  fellows,  he  has  had  frequent  rencontres  with  the 
police,  where  shots  have  been  exchanged  between  the  parties;  but  as  this  inter- 
change of  bullets  has  always  been  at  long  range  and  in  the  darkness  of  a  wild 
night,  wounds  have  rarely  been  inflicted  by  them  on  either  side.  In  these  affairs 
Lowry  and  Geigan  have  been  no  better  or  worse  than  their  comrades,  and  their 
preeminence  is  due  rather  to  their  long  service  and  uniform  success  as  thieves 
than  to  any  specially  noteworthy  deeds.  Lowry,  however,  seems  to  be  bent 
just  now  on  distinctive  renown,  as  he  has  become  so  embittered  by  police  inter- 
ference that  he  has  sent  word  to  O'Brien  that  he  will  kill  him  when  he  next 
attempts  to  arrest  him. 

In  addition  to  these  staple  thieves — to  invent  a  name  for  them — there  are 
other  classes  equally  annoying  to  general  shipping  ;  and  chief  among  them  are 
the  tackle  thieves.  These  are  among  the  most  forlorn  of  pilferers,  whose  ambi- 
tion never  soars  above  the  purloining  of  rope  ends,  blocks,  and  other  small  arti- 
cles which  can  be  picked  up  on  the  decks  of  ships,  which  are  of  little  value  in 
themselves,  and  must  be  disposed  of  by  the  thieves  for  the  merest  pittance. 
These  thieves  generally  select  vessels  anchored  in  the  stream  for  their  opera- 
tions, clamber  up  the  sides  with  the  agility  of  practised  athletes,  noiselessly 
gather  whatever  booty  is  at  hand,  and,  slinking  away  as  stealthily  as  they  came, 
are  rarely  detected  on  board. 

Another  gang  is  called  the  "  Daybreak  Boys,"  from  the  fact  that  none  of  them 
are  a  dozen  years  of  age,  and  that  they  always  select  the  hour  of  dawn  for  their 
depredations,  which  are  exclusively  confined  to  the  small  craft  moored  in  the  East 
river  just  below  Hell  Gate.  They  find  the  men  on  these  vessels  locked  in  the 
deep  sleep  of  exhaustion,  the  result  of  their  severe  labors  of  the  day  ;  and  as 
there  are  no  watchmen,  they  meet  little  difficulty  in  rifling  not  only  the  vessels 
but  the  persons  of  those  on  board.  If  there  is  any  such  thing  as  a  watch  or 
money,  it  is  sure  to  disappear  ;  and  it  has  often  happened  that  one  of  these  ves- 
sels has  been  robbed  of  every  portable  article  on  board,  including  every  article 
of  clothing,  and  the  crew  have  awakened  in  the  morning  to  find  themselves  in 
the  distressing  dilemma,  as  to  clothing,  of  Falstaffs  company.  While  this  spe- 
cies of  robbery  is  extremely  provoking  and  a  great  hardship  to  the  poor  men 
who  are  its  victims,  it  brings  little  profit  to  the  precocious  thieves,  who  will  fre- 
quently obtain  only  coarse  sustenance  for  a  day  in  exchange  for  a  boat-load  of 
plunder,  which  costs  them  several  hours  of  hard  labor  to  steal  and  get  to  the 
junkman  who  buys  it. 

Very  different  from  these  abject  "Daybreak  Boys,"  both  in  the  method  and 
results  of  the  thefts,  is  another  class,  which  is  perhaps  the  meanest  of  all,  as  it 
takes  its  booty  by  indirections  which  defy  the  law.  "There  are  no  thieves  on 
these  waters,"  say  the  police,  "so  bad  as  the  lightermen  ;"  and  they  will  cite 
stubborn  facts  to  show  how  these  trusted  servitors  of  commerce  habitually  and 
flagrantly  betray  their  trusts.  It  must  be  admitted  that  they  are  sorely  tempted, 
and  it  would  be  strange  if  they  came  off  altogether  with  clean  hands.  Taking  on 
cargoes  at  Harbeck's  stores,  Brooklyn,  to  be  transported  to  the  foot  of  Thirty- 


42  THE  NETHER  SIDE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

fourth  street,  North  river,  for  shipment  by  rail,  they  have  exclusive  charge  of 
thousands  of  tons  of  merchandise  for  a  time  long  enough  to  deplete  every  pack- 
age of  a  quantity  so  small  that  the  abstraction  is  not  noticed  ;  but  in  the  aggre- 
gate the  thefts  are  enormous,  and  give  rise  to  acrid  disputes  and  often  to  litiga- 
tion between  sellers  and  buyers,  on  account  of  discrepancies  in  weight.  The 
loss  in  every  bag  of  coffee  of  a  pound  in  weight  between  the  importers'  whatf 
and  the  railroad  pier  is  a  marvel  impossible  to  explain  if  the  lightermen  honestly 
perform  their  functions  ;  but  this  obvious  explanation  of  a  constantly-recurring 
fact  is  one  which  all  parties  unite  in  ignoring. 

Such  in  brief  and  general  terms  are  the  several  classes  of  harbor  thieves  as  they 
exist  to-day  ;  and  each  class  is  to  be  credited  with  some  specially  notable  crimes. 

The  most  remarkable  of  all  these  cases  is  also  one  of  the  most  recent.  The 
mate  of  a  schooner  trading  to  Brazil,  when  last  at  Para,  having  his  eye  open  to  a 
speculation  on  private  account,  purchased  four  splendid  anacondas,  one  being 
twenty-one  feet  in  length,  one  fifteen  feet,  and  the  other  two  fourteen  feet  each. 
He  escaped  all  the  perils  of  the  sea  and  arrived  in  the  harbor  of  New  York  \vith 
his  snakes  all  in  fine  condition.  The  news  of  the  extraordinary  arrival  spread 
with  great  rapidity  among  the  dealers  in  such  articles,  and  during  his  first  day  in 
port  the  mate  had  numerous  advantageous  offers  for  his  reptiles.  He  toyed 
with  all,  however,  hoping  for  something  better  ;  but  among  the  bidders  were  two 
men  who  were  especially  pertinacious,  and  at  last  forced  from  him  a  refusal  of 
the  snakes  until  next  morning,  and  got  him  to  accept  five  dollars  to  bind  the 
bargain.  That  night  six  men  in  two  small  boats  went  alongside  the  schooner, 
and,  getting  on  board,  administered  chloroform  to  the  captain,  whom  they  found 
asleep  in  the  cabin,  and  then  removing  the  hatches  got  out  the  box  containing 
the  snakes  and  carried  it  ashore.  The  police,  of  course,  having  little  difficulty 
in  working  up  such  a  case  as  this,  speedily  had  snakes  and  thieves  in  custody. 
But  the  pirates,  even  under  such  untoward  circumstances,  proved  themselves 
shrewder  than  the  law  ;  for  it  then  appeared  that  the  men  who  had  paid  five 
dollars  to  bind  the  bargain  for  the  purchase  were  noted  river  thieves,  who  led 
the  raid  on  the  schooner  and  in  whose  possession  the  serpents  were  found. 
Under  these  circumstances  they  claimed  to  be  bona  fide  holders,  and  the  affair 
was  held  to  be  a  civil  one  ;  the  mate,  being  denied  the  redress  of  criminal  pro- 
cess, was  worsted  in  the  subsequent  proceedings  and  lost  his  snakes. 

Another  notable  case  was  an  unusual  achievement  of  the  Daybreak  Boys,  four 
of  whom,  prowling  on  the  North  river  in  the  middle  of  the  day,  happened  to  come 
upon  a  small  boat  containing  three  small  boys  out  for  a  pleasure  sail.  The 
young  thieves,  in  the  true  spirit  of  piracy,  pulled  alongside,  and,  by  the  utterance 
of  many  oaths  and  the  brandishing  of  several  knives,  cowed  the  boys  into  sub- 
missiveness  while  they  robbed  them  of  their  pocket  money  and  the  silver  watch  one 
of  them  had.  Two  of  the  thieves  then  took  possession  of  the  boat,  and,  taking  two 
of  the  boys  with  them,  while  the  other  was  put  ashore  on  the  piratical  craft,  made 
them  row  to  the  foot  of  Thirty-fourth  street.  It  happened,  however,  on  their  ar- 
rival, that  a  detective  officer  whom  one  of  the  boy-prisoners  knew  was  on  the  pier, 
and  his  aid  being  invoked  the  infant  thieves  were  taken  in  charge  ;  and  their  two 
companions  being  subsequently  arrested,  the  piracy  ended  in  a  term  of  imprison- 
ment for  all  concerned  in  it. 

It  is  important  to  commerce  and  interesting  to  the  general  reader  to  know 
what  means  have  been  adopted  to  limit  the  depredations  of  marauders  who  have 
been  shown  to  be  active,  audacious,  and  successful  to  a  degree  that  makes  them 
a  public  danger,  although  so  few  in  number.  Prior  to  1857,  when  the  metropoli- 
tan regime  was  established,  there  was  no  police  protection  whatever  to  the  ship- 


HARBOR  THIEVES.  43 

ping  in  the  harbor.  Shortly  after  that  event  the  harbor  police  was  instituted 
upon  a  plan  that  gave  the  largest  possible  amount  of  protection  with  the  force 
and  appliances  at  hand.  There  was  a  station-house  on  shore,  and  the  force  was 
subjected  in  all  respects  to  the  rules  governing  the  land  police,  the  only  differ- 
ence between  the  two  being  that  the  harbor  men  patrolled  the  rivers  and  bay  in 
small  boats  instead  of  walking  the  streets.  There  were  fifty-seven  men  in  the 
command,  which  enabled  the  captain  to  have  at  least  six  boats  constantly  on  pa- 
trol. These  were  of  course  inadequate  to  give  absolute  protection  to  the  extended 
water  front  of  the  city,  but  were  so  great  an  improvement  on  no  protection  at  all 
that  there  was  immediately  a  very  decided  diminution  in  the  number  of  rob- 
beries. This  system  of  water  police  had  thoroughly  proved  its  efficiency  and 
was  being  rapidly  improved,  when  the  Commissioners  gave  aid  and  comfort  to  the 
thieves  by  its  abrogation  and  the  adoption  of  a  new  system.  The  shore  house 
was  abandoned,  the  force  reduced,  and  a  steamer  provided  which  was  to  make 
twenty  miles  an  hour,  run  down  or  pick  up  all  the  thieves  as  fast  as  they  came 
out  of  their  holes,  and  generally  make  river  robbery  an  impossibility.  But  the 
boat,  when  brought  into  use,  had  great  difficulty  in  making  headway  against  a 
strong  tide,  was  never  fast  except  when  tied  to  the  pier,  showed  Falstaff^s  "alacri- 
ty in  sinking,"  and  speedily  became,  as  she  remained  to  the  end,  the  laughing- 
stock of  thieves  and  honest  men  alike.  During  the  ten  years  she  was  in  ser- 
vice she  was  instrumental  in  making  but  one  arrest,  and  that  was  due  rather  to 
the  stupidity  of  the  thieves  than  the  prowess  of  the  steamer. 

But  so  far  as  interfering  with  piratical  operations  is  concerned,  the  result 
would  necessarily  have  been  the  same  with  any  large  vessel.  Captain  James 
Todd,  who  was  in  (jpmmand  of  the  harbor  police  for  more  than  ten  years, 
although  doing  his  best  to  utilize  his  large  steamer,  was  forced  to  do  all  his 
effective  work  by  small  row-boats.  No  thief  is  so  clumsy  that  he  cannot 
keep  clear  of  large  steamers  under  all  circumstances,  and  none  so  adroit 
that  he  can  ever  be  sure  of  escaping  the  row-boats  which  follow  him  into 
slips,  under  piers,  behind  ships,  and  into  all  his  coverts.  The  steamer  has 
therefore  been  exclusively  employed  in  spending  the  public  money,  in  which 
she  has  been  remarkably  successful,  in  displaying  the  city  flag  in  the  harbor, 
and  in  making  a  great  "sound  and  fury  signifying  nothing;"  and  all  the  real 
work  has  been  done,  as  it  always  must  be  done,  by  small  boats.  This  service, 
with  the  small  force  allowed  since  the  introduction  of  the  steamer,  which  is  sup- 
posed to  work  miracles,  is  one  of  extreme  hardship  and  very  inadequately  per- 
formed. In  consequence  of  the  peculiarities  of  the  currents  around  New  York, 
the  tide  being  flood  only  four  hours,  while  it  is  ebb  eight  hours  in  the  North 
river,  makes  the  patrolling  of  that  river,  which  includes  miles  of  piers,  one  of  ex- 
treme difficulty  ;  while  the  greater  facilities  for  thieving  on  the  East  river,  where 
tidal  hardships  are  not  encountered,  renders  the  surveillance  of  that  side  no  less 
onerous  than  the  other.  Only  one  boat  can  be  sent  out  on  each  river  at  a  time,  and 
as  it  must  enter  all  the  slips  at  night,  the  tour  of  duty  of  six  Hours  is  frequently 
exhausted  before  the  boat  has  traversed  more  than  half  the  space  allotted  it. 

Harbor  thievery  can  never  be  wholly  extinguished,  but  it  can  be  most  ham- 
pered by  a  return,  with  one  important  modification,  to  the  organization  of  the 
harbor  police  originally  adopted.  The  numerical  force  should  be  at  least  fifty, 
including  officers;  there  should  be  the  station-house  ashore,  as  before;  the 
steamboat  should  be  entirely  dispensed  with,  and  steam  launches  should  be  sub- 
stituted for  row-boats  for  patrolling  purposes.  With  these  changes,  the  advan- 
tages of  which  are  too  obvious  to  require  enumeration,  the  harbor  thieves  would 
find  their  occupation  almost  entirely  gone. 


WHY   THIEVES    PROSPER. 


THE  thieves  of  New  York  cost  the  honest  people  of  the  city  nearly  seven  mil- 
lions of  dollars  a  year.  They  always  have  money,  and  are  always  spending 
't  with  reckless  improvidence.  Yet  we  are  told,  in  the  report  of  the  Police  Com- 
missioners, that  the  value  of  the  property  lost  in  i863  was  only  $4,755,077  83, 
and  that  of  this  sum  $4,383,567  13  was  recovered,  leaving  only  the  trifling  balance 
of  $371,510  70  as  the  total  loss  for  the  year.  Accepted  without  question,  these 
figures  are  creditable  to  the  police.  But,  as  matter  of  fact,  this  reported  total 
loss  is  apparent  only ;  the  thieves  are  to  be  charged  with  much  more  than  the  $150 
each  given  officially  as  their  annual  income. 

The  figures  of  the  Commissioners  are  obtained  b)'  computing  in  one  account 
property  reported  as  stolen  and  that  reported  as  lost  under  the  one  head  of  "prop- 
erty lost."  Now  as  the  lost  is  nearly  always  found,  and  thus  appears  on  both  sides 
of  the  account,  while  the  stolen  very  rarely  requires  a  second  entry,  it  is  apparent 
that  the  official  figures  are  altogether  deceptive.  Even  if  the  Commissioners  kept  a 
separate  account  of  the  property  stolen,  the  result  attained  would  not  be  exact, 
since  they  can  only  carry  upon  their  books  the  robberies  reported  to  them,  and  ev- 
ery one  knows  that  not  a  day  passes  when  scores  of  pockets  are  not  picked,  and  not 
a  night  when  buildings  are  not  entered  and  rifled,  and  the  police  left  uninformed 
of  the  facts.  The  crimes  reported  either  to  the  police  or  in  the  newspapers  being 
only  a  part  of  those  committed,  we  must  go  outside  of  reported  figures,  and,  by  a 
close  observation  of  the  outlaw  classes,  make  our  own  estimate. 

As  a  rule,  the  New  York  thief  is  well  dressed  and  well  housed  :  it  is  a  singu- 
lar fact,  by  the  way,  that  when  the  thief  comes  in  the  shape  of  an  actual  pur 
chaser  he  seldom  attempts  to  ply  his  vocation,  but  pays  full  price  for  what  he 
buys.  It  is  plain,  therefore,  that  he  must  have  money,  and  nothing  is  more  cer- 
tain than  that  he  does  have  it.  Some  of  our  thieves  squander  princely  incomes 
every  year,  while  others  starve  and  pinch  on  a  bare  sufficiency,  but  their  average 
expenditure  is  certainly  $4  a  day  each  ;  and,  as  every  dollar  thus  spent  is  the 
product  of  thievery,  it  is  plain,  allowing  them  to  realize  the  par  value  of  their 
thefts,  that  being  about  2,500  in  number,  their  first  cost  to  the  citj'  is  about 
$10,000  per  day,  or  $3,650,000  per  annum.  But  it  is  well  known  that  this  par 
value  is  something  the  thief  never  gets,  and  that  these  figures,  therefore,  are  not 
true  representatives  of  the  property  stolen.  This  vast  sum  is,  too,  merely  the 
first  cost  of  the  criminals,  who  make  necessary  besides  all  the  enormous  outlay 
for  the  police  and  criminal  judicial  establishments  to  preserve  the  public  peace 
and  protect  the  citizen  in  his  property.  The  amount  annually  extracted  from  the 
tax-payers  for  the  support  of  these  establishments  is  about  $3,212,000,  which, 
added  to  the  former  amount,  makes  the  total  cost  of  the  criminal  and  disorderly 
classes  to  the  city  $6,862,000  annually.  The  crumb  of  comfort  to  be  found  in 
the  fact  that  the  cost  of  the  police  and  judiciary  should  be  equally  divided  be- 
tween the  criminal  and  disorderly  classes,  is  eaten  up  by  the  other  fact  that  the 
amount  received  by  the  thieves  for  stolen  property  is  far  less  than  the  value  of 
their  thefts. 

Although  the  thieves  are  not  credited  with  their  full  dues  on  the  books  of  the 
Police  Commissioners,  they  gain  nothing  by  these  large  additions  to  their  in- 
comes, which  the  authorities  are  afraid  to  acknowledge,  even  to  themselves. 


WHY   THIEVES    PROSPER.  45 

Whether  the  receipts  of  a  thief  be  four  dollars  or  four  thousand  ii  the  course  of  a 
year,  he  is  generally  penniless.  ■<  A  more  improvident,  reckless  sijendthrift  than 
the  professional  criminal  does  not  live.  To  take  no  heed  of  the  morrow  is  tlie 
only  scriptural  injunction  he  can  be  relied  upon  to  observe.  His  money  comes 
easy,  but  it  goes  with  such  marvellous  ease  and  raj^idity  that  he  can  hardly  re- 
member that  he  has  had  it.  In  his  way  he  is  just  and  generous,  and  when  his 
pockets  have  been  filled  by  some  lucky  venture  he  first  pays  his  own  press- 
ing debts,  and  next  helps  some  less  fortunate  comrade  out  of  the  sloughs  of  pe- 
cuniary despond.  If  he  has  anything  left  after  these  demands  of  honor  are  satis- 
fied, he  plunges  into  the  excitement  of  gaming,  and  almost  invariably  leaves  his 
surplus  with  some  faro-dealer.  He  is  undoubtedly  a  devotee  to  some  extent  of 
wine  and  women,  but  is  economical  in  both  of  these  indulgences.  Rarely  a  drunk- 
ard, he  is  still  less  often  a  licentious  debauchee,  and  the  presumed  co-partner- 
ship between  harlotry  and  thievery  is  a  delusion.  Sometimes,  indeed,  a  thief  is 
found  living  illicitly  with  a  woman,  but  she  is  almost  certain  to  be  an  adept  in 
some  purloining  art,  and  to  contribute  her  full  quota  to  the  joint  income. 

But  even  if  the  thieves  never  approached  the  gaming-table,  and  never  ex- 
pended a  dollar  for  the  gratification  of  sensual  appetites,  they  would  still  be  an 
impecunious  race,  for  no  class  is  so  ruthlessly  stripped.  They  are  common  game 
for  detectives  and  lawyers,  and  when  once  entangled  in  the  meshes  of  either,  ex- 
pect to  be  robbed  of  their  last  penny — and  are  rarely  disappointed  in  their  expecta- 
tion. If  they  are  thieves  of  the  lesser  order  they  are  sure  to  be  plucked  and  go 
to  prison  afterward  ;  if  they  belong  to  the  ranks  of  the  educated  and  adroit  ope- 
rators, and  happen  to  have  a  large  amount  of  money  on  hand  when  caught,  by 
due  discretion  in  its  use  they  can  compound  the  most  flagrant  crimes.  For  the 
present  administration  of  correctional  law  in  New  York  may  be  thus  epitomize.d  : 
Obtaining  conclusive  evidence  of  giiilt  against  a  thief;  arresting  him ;  wresting 
from  him  the  last  possible  dollar,  and  then  tm-ning  him  loose  to  repeat  his  crime 
and  again  experience  its  condonement.  There  are  exceptions,  of  course,  but  this 
is  the  usual  end  and  aim  of  detective  endeavor.  Such  being  the  perils  that  sur- 
round the  stealthily-won  products  of  thieves,  we  cannot  wonder  that  they  are,  as 
a  class,  usually  impecunious,  or  refrain  from  joining  in  the  general  amazement 
recently  occasioned  by  the  announcement  that  a  noted  depredator  had  just  died 
worth  $60,000.  It  is  doubtful,  however,  whether  the  general  public  will  share  in 
the  poignant  regret  aroused  in  the  detective  breast  by  this  piece  of  news — at 
least,  not  for  the  same  reason. 

There  are  statistics  to  show  that  our  thieves  wage  their  crusade  against  so- 
ciety without  much  cause  to  fear  the  terrors  of  the  law.  Somebody  once  made 
a  curious  calculation  of  how  many  thousands  of  bullets  must  be  fired  before  one 
man  is  hit  in  battle.  Let  us  consider  how  vast  an  amount  of  property  must  be 
stolen  before  one  thief  is  locked  up  in  State  Prison.  It  being  a  well-established 
fact  that  the  adroit,  practised,  and  therefore  dangerous  thieves,  very  rarely  come 
under  the  jurisdiction  of  the  courts,  it  is  plain  that  the  subjoined  figures  apply 
almost  exclusively  to  mere  tyros,  who,  not  having  learned  how  to  "square  it" 
with  the  officials,  or  else  not  doing  business  on  a  scale  sufficiently  large  to  justify 
the  latter  in  allowing  them  to  do  so,  are  promptly  tripped  up  by  the  vigilant  po- 
lice, to  emblazon  the  terrible  severity  of  an  unyielding  justiciary  in  vindicating 
the  laws.  This  is  a  grave  charge,  but  it  cannot  be  refuted  by  the  mention  of 
any  considerable  number  of  noted  burglars,  or  bond-robbers,  or  pickpockets, 
who  have  experienced  deprivation  of  personal  liberty  during  the  past  few  years. 
This  fact  being  kept  in  constant  remembrance,  the  following  tabular  state- 


46 


THE  NETHER  SIDE  OF  NEW  YORK. 


ment  is  submitted  to  show  the  number  of  cases  disposed  of  in  the  courts  of  crim- 
inal jurisdiction  in  the  City  of  New  York  during  the  year  1868,  and  also  the  totals 
of  arrests  for  the  same  offences,  for  the  same  period,  as  they  appear  in  the  annual 
report  of  the  Police  Commissioners.  In  order  that  the  subject  may  not  be  en- 
cumbered by  extraneous  matter,  the  figures  are  presented  only  in  the  cases  of 
certain  felonies,  although  the  same  proportion  is  apparent  up  and  down  the  whole 
gamut  of  crime  : 


OFFENCE. 


Arson 

Bigamy 

Burglary 

Forgery- 

J^arceny,  grand 

Larceny,  petit 

Picking  pockets 

Receiving  stolen  goods. 
Robbery 


Arrests. 

Disposed  of. 

Missing. 

6s 

3 

62 

13 

I 

12 

630 

154 

476 

H3 

24 

89 

2-413 

347 

2,066 

4.9=7 

2,S34 

2,093 

303 

49 

254 

255 

3 

252 

130 

TI 

iig 

These  figures  afford  cumulative  evidence  that  comparisons  are  odious  ;  but 
they  are  also  suggestive,  and  when  closely  examined  show,  either  that  the  police 
annually  make  hundreds  of  arrests  without  the  slightest  cause,  or  that  the  judges 
are  continually  unloosing  the  bonds  of  criminals.  It  is  an  unpleasant  dilemma 
for  either  side,  but  it  may  be  further  said  that  two  of  the  four  police  courts — the 
only  ones  where  such  data  were  obtainable — sent  to  the  District  Attorney  during 
the  year,  473  cases  of  grand  larceny,  163  of  burglary,  and  46  of  highway  robbery. 
By  reference  to  the  table  it  will  be  seen  that  these  two  committing  tribunals  sup- 
plied that  official  with  more  of  these  felonies  than  he  can  account  for  altogether. 
It  is  true  that  the  police  justice  must  hold  for  trial  when  a  prima  facie  case  is 
presented,  and  that  the  grand  jury  may  fail  to  indict,  or  having  found  bills,  that 
the  District  Attorney  may  deem  the  proof  insufficient,  and  dismiss  the  charge. 
But  when  all  these  allowances  are  made  they  fail  to  account  for  the  grand  total 
of  5,423  cases  of  crime,  which,  during  a  single  year,  evaporated  into  utter  nothing- 
ness between  the  police  station-houses  and  the  bars  of  the  courts.  The  Police 
Commissioners  report  that  they  have  had  them,  but  the  magistrates  and  the  Dis- 
trict Attorney  do  not  appear  to  have  ever  been  informed  of,  much  less  to  have 
encountered  this  avalanche  of  crime. 

A' portion  of  the  vast  discrepancy  between  the  arrests  and  the  cases  brought 
to  a  conclusion  in  the  courts  may  be  explained  by  the  fact  that  the  table  of  the 
Commissioners  is  not  so  compiled  as  to  be  accurate  authority.  Year  after  3-ear 
the  Commissioners  have  published  their  table  of  the  number  of  persons  arrested  as 
"  offences  during  the  year,"  and  have  thus  sought  to  ignore  the  very  palpable  differ- 
ence between  the  number  of  crimes  and  the  number  of  persons  arrested  for  crime. 
They  report  a  grand  total  of  78,45 1  offences  during  the  past  year,  when  a  little  scru- 
tiny makes  it  apparent  that  they  mean  only  that  so  many  persons  have  been  dragged 
to  the  station-houses  on  various  charges,  frivolous  or  serious,  as  the  case  maybe. 
The  mode  by  which  the  totality  of  wickedness  is  reached  Ls  a  very  simple  but  effec- 
tive method  of  evading  the  truth  ;  for  if  a  dozen  footpads  waylay  a  citizen  in  the 
street,  and  the  dozen  are  arrested,  the  one  highway  robbery  is  increased  a  dozen 
times  when  it  gets  into  the  report.  Nor  is  this  singular  method  of  gathering 
statistics  the  only  wrong  the  Commissioners  inflict  upon  the  city.  Not  a  day 
passes  that  patrolmen  do  not  take  prisoners  into  nearly  every  one  of  the  thirty 
station-houses  of  the  city,  the  charges  against  whom  dissolve  under  the  first  ex- 
amination, and  the  accused  are  discharged  by  the  officer  in  charge.     But  all  these 


WHY   THIEVES    PROSPER.        ^  47 

cases  go  upon  the  record,  and  do  duty  in  the  annual  report  as  so  many  offences, 
when  in  fact  they  may  be  nothing  more  than  proofs  of  the  mahce  of  accusers  or 
the  stupidity  of  patrolmen.  There  are,  indeed,  many  more  such  felonies  as  burg- 
lary and  larceny  committed  annually  than  appear  in  the  reports  ;  but  the  Com- 
missioners are  not  thereby  justified  in  reporting  false  charges  as  true,  and,  by 
counting  both  false  and  true  over  and  over  again,  making  a  table  of  haphazard 
guesses  when  they  should  submit  a  record  of  undeniable  facts. 

But  while  this  official  method  of  dealing  with  figures  is  accountable  for  a  part 
of  the  discrepancies  between  arrests  and  dispositions,  it  is  not  justly  chargeable 
with  the  whole  sin.  The  police  do  undoubtedly  arrest  many  criminals  who  are 
committed  by  the  magistrates  for  trial,  but  who  are  never  heard  of  again  any- 
where in  the  labyrinthic  realms  of  justice.  There  are  many  cases  where  thieves 
have  been  arrested  with  the  most  convincing  proofs  of  their  crime  at  hand,  and 
yet  have  never  been  tried.  On  many  occasions,  the  p.olice  magistrates,  in  the 
bright  heyday  of  suddenly-developed  virtue,  have  committed  notorious  thieves 
without  bail,  and  the  same  thieves  have  been  upon  the  streets  next  day  and  every 
day  since,  so  far  as  that  particular  charge  is  concerned.  It  is  well  known  that 
the  four  police  courts  commit  for  trial  a  number  of  persons  sufficient  to  keep  the 
courts  of  last  resort  constantly  busy  ;  and  yet,  although  those  mills  of  justice 
grind  exceeding  slow,  their  hoppers,  in  the  shape  of  prisons,  rarely  overflow. 
It  is  known  that  there  are  a  score  or  more  of  first-class  rascals  in  the  city,  who 
frequently  fall  into  the  hands  of  the  law  they  daily  outrage,  and  yet  have  never 
been  confronted  with  a  jury  to  pass  upon  their  crimes.  It  is  known  that  while 
the  shadowed  army  of  roguery  is  eti  route  from  the  committing  magistrate  to  the 
worshipful  judge,  nearly  a  fifth  are  lost ;  but  the  general  public  have  not  been 
able,  even  with  the  help  of  some  research,  to  learn  what  becomes  of  them.  They 
may  find  a  safe  refuge  in  the  office  of  the  District  Attorney ;  they  may  succeed 
in  compromising  with  the  complainant,  or  they  may  even  throttle  justice  in  the 
short  journey  from  the  grand-jury  room  to  the  box  of  the  petit  jury.  The  Dis- 
trict Attorney,  however,  can  probably  explain  how  it  is  that  so  many  complaints 
for  felonies,  that  are  seemingly  defended  by  impregnable  proofs,  are  abandoned 
without  even  a  pretence  being  made  to  sustain  them.  He,  in  conjunction  with 
the  Police  Commissioners,  the  Recorder,  and  the  City  Judge,  can  resolve  the 
enigma  presented  in  8,849  arrests  for  crime  in  a  year  and  only  3,426  cases  of  the 
same  crimes  disposed  of  in  all  the  courts  during  the  same  time.  There  seems 
enough  here  to  make  credible  the  assertion  of  the  Superintendent  of  Police, 
made  during  the  heat  of  a  late  election  canvass,  that  there  are  10,000  indict- 
ments quietly  laid  away  in  the  office  of  the  District  Attorney  ;  but  whether  that 
be  true  or  not,  there  is  certainly  sufficient  in  these  unrelenting  figures  to  warrant 
every  official  in  New  York,  having  to  do  in  any  way  with  criminals,  in  rising  to  a 
personal  explanation. 

These  charges  are  of  such  serious  character  that,  notwithstanding  they  are 
based  upon  official  reports,  they  seem  to  demand  some  specific  cases  as  illustra- 
tions. All  that  I  use  are  of  recent  date,  and  are  culled  from  a  long  list  of  similar 
cases,  with  a  view  of  showing  not  onlj'^  the  relations  existing  between  criminals 
and  the  authorities,  but  also  of  showing  the  audacity  and  adroitness  of  thieves 
as  well  as  the  general  lack  of  conscience  in  dealing  with  one  of  the  gravest  mat- 
ters of  public  concern. 

One  of  the  latest  cases  on  the  books  shows  very  clearly  the  enterprise  of 
burglars  and  the  methods  of  detectives.  A  bank  in  Maryland  was  entered  by 
burglars,  and  robbed  of  securities  of  the  value  of  $120,000.     In  due  course  of 


48  THE  NETHER  SIDE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

time,  and  by  means  which,  of  course,  have  never  been  divulged,  these  securi- 
ties were  traced  to  New  York,  and  to  the  possession  of  two  notorious  burglars. 
In  its  preliminary  stages,  the  case  promised  to  be  a  praiseworthy  exception  to 
the  rule  in  modern  detective  work,  for  the  New  York  officers  schemed  in  an  en- 
tirely legitimate  way  for  the  recovery  of  the  bonds  and  the  capture  of  the  thieves. 
No  criminal  was  used  as  a  decoy,  and  no  promise  of  immunity  was  made  to  any  one. 
The  burglars  were  patiently  "shadowed,"'  and  by  the  employment  of  a  regular 
broker  their  desire  to  sell  the  stolen  securities  was  ascertained.  A  suitable  office 
was  prepared,  and  the  burglars  finally  invited  to  a  last  meeting  with  the  broker, 
for  the  purpose  of  closing  the  transaction.  Tiiey  came  according  to  appoint- 
ment, and  the  officers,  who  were  secreted  in  an  adjoining  room,  sprang  in  upon 
them  at  the  moment  they  were  about  to  pass  over  the  property.  Thus  far,  the 
case  was  as  the  first  dawn  of  coming  purity,  and  there  was  especial  cause  for 
congratulation,  in  the  fact  that  honesty  had  proved  the  best  policy.  The  capture 
of  the  burglars  with  $99,500  of  the  stolen  bonds  in  their  possession  at  the  mo- 
ment of  arrest,  afforded  a  reasonable  presumption  that  at  least  two  of  the  great 
bond-robbers  would  now  find  their  way  to  a  prison.  But  it  was  only  a  presump- 
tion, and  by  no  means  a  realized  fact.  As  a  first  step,  the  identity  of  the  burg- 
lars was  rigorously  concealed  by  the  officers  under  false  names,  and  matters 
were  then  speedily  arranged  to  the  satisfaction  of  all  immediately  concerned. 
The  success  of  the  New  York  officers  had  diverted  from  the  Baltimore  detective 
firm,  first  employed  in  the  case,  the  large  reward  offered  for  the  recovery  of  the 
bonds  ;  but  there  were  still  $20,000  out-standing,  and  the  Baltimore  firm  clutched 
at  this  remnant  with  a  sharpened,  because  disappointed  appetite.  A  farce  was 
then  played  by  the  adroit  detectives,  whereby  it  was  made  to  appear  tliat  the 
burglars  had  waived  their  legal  rights,  and  consented  to  return  to  Maryland  for 
trial,  without  the  intervention  of  a  requisition  from  the  Gov-ernor  of  that  State ; 
and  the  New  York  officials  having  taken  a  receipt  for  their  bodies,  a  Baltimore 
officer  started  with  the  captives  for  that  city.  The  journey  must  have  been  ex- 
peditiously performed,  and  a  trial  of  marvellous  dispatch  been  followed  by  a 
speedy  acquittal ;  for  the  ink  was  scarcely  dry  upon  the  New  York  receipt  before 
both  men  had  snapped  tlie  leashes  of  the  law,  and  were  promenading  Broadway, 
unfettered  and  unwatched.  The  apparent  mystery  is  easily  solved  by  the  knowl- 
edge that  the  $20,000  had  been  recovered,  and  the  affair  concluded  to  the  sat- 
isfaction of  everybody,  except,  perhaps,  the  public,  whose  laws  had  been  out- 
rageously cheated.  The  robbers  were  content,  for  they  had  escaped  the  penalty 
of  their  crime  ;  the  detectives  were  hilarious,  for  they  had  pocketed  over  $16,000 
in  rewards,  and  the  bank  was  assuredly  satisfied,  as  it  had  regained  nearly  all 
of  its  property  at  a  reasonable  price. 

As  another  instance  of  detective  work  may  be  cited  a  case  where  no  C[ues- 
tion  of  money  was  involved,  but  tlie  officer  entered  into  a  covenant  with  a  thief 
merely  to  oblige  a  friend.  A  gentleman  having  lost  his  watch,  reported  the  fact 
at  the  Central  Police  Office,  and  expressed  great  anxiety  to  regain  it,  as  it  was 
an  old  family  possession.  Thereupon  the  official  in  charge  sent  for  a  noted  thief, 
stated  the  case  in  detail,  and  asked  him  if  he  "could  get  to  it."  Thief  did  not 
know,  but  would  try,  and  started  out  upon  the  special  detective  duty  to  which  he 
had  been  assigned.  But  presently  he  was  brought  before  the  official  who  had 
sent  him  forth.  He  was  now  in  custody  of  a  verdant  patrolman,- who  had  found 
him  prowling  about  the  streets  in  a  suspicious  way,  and,  knowing  him  to  be  a 
thief,  had  taken  him  in  charge.  Matters  were  explained,  and  the  thief  again  went 
out  upon  his  mission  ;  but,  having  occasion  to  visit  a  different  part  of  the  city, 


WHY    THIEVES    PROSPER.  49 

was  again  captured  and  taken  in  by  an  officious  patrolman.  Tliis  time  tlie  thief 
desired  written  authority  for  his  movements  ;  but  while  this  was  prudently  de- 
clined, he  was  told  that  if  again  molested  he  might  use  the  official's  name.  Fi- 
nally, the  watch  was  recovered,  but  the  man  who  stole  it  was  never  molested. 
"  Set  a  thief  to  catch  a  thief,"  is  a  precept  the  New  York  police  cannot  obey, 
even  if  so  inclined  ;  for,  although  the  thieves  are  always  ready,  as  a  matter  of 
business,  to  assist  in  the  recovery  of  stolen  property,  they  will  never  aid  in  effect- 
ing the  arrest  of  a  "pal." 

Sometimes  the  authorities  prove  relentless  when  they  have  a  malefactor 
"dead  to  rights" — as,  with  a  keen  sense  of  satire,  they  style  having  conclusive 
evidence  against  him — and  are  pressed  by  public  clamor  for  a  rigorous  enforce- 
ment of  the  penalties  of  the  law.  But  even  when  the  malefactor  encounters  this 
extremity,  he  is  by  no  means  in  immediate  peril.  He  may  delay  the  crisis  in- 
definitely, and  hope  for  eventual  succor  from  the  law's  delays.  Some  months 
since,  one  of  the  most  noted  and  adroit  of  the  New  York  pickpockets  was  thus 
got  "dead  to  rights,"  and,  unfortunately  for  himself,  fell  into  the  clutches  of  a 
patrolman  instead  of  a  detective.  As  the  public  mind  was,  just  then,  greatly  ex- 
cited against  criminals  of  all  grades*  it  was  confidently  predicted  that  the  un- 
lucky pickpocket  would  be  convicted,  and  sent  to  Sing  Sing  within  a  week.  But 
the  prophets  did  not  take  the  resources  of  the  thief  into  consideration.  Within 
the  time  specified,  some  of  his  confederates  had  spirited  away  the  chief  witness 
against  him.  The  culprit  gained  time  by  this  expedient,  and  the  quidnuncs, 
guided  by  long  experience,  were  as  ready  to  prophecy  that  he  would  escape  alto- 
gether ;  but  the  case  was  destined  to  prove  anomalous  in  all  respects,  and  after 
many  weeks'  delay  the  malefactor  was  finally  tried,  convicted,  and  actually  sent  to 
Sing  Sing. 

Another  case,  illustrating  the  same  point,  but  showing  a  different  termination, 
was  that  of  the  youth  who  lately  gained  cheap  notoriety  as  a  bond-robber,  was 
tried  and  convicted.  He  was  only  an  amateur  thief.  He  was  a  clerk  in  the  house 
which  was  robbed,  and  having  been  used  by  the  professionals  to  assist  in  effect- 
ing the  robber)',  was  afterward  shrewd  enough  to  cheat  them  out  of  a  large  por- 
tion of  the  proceeds.  He  fled  with  his  spoils,  and  after  a  long  pursuit  was  cap- 
tured, tried,  and  convicted,  chiefly  because  he  refused  to  enter  into  negotiations 
for  the  return  of  $30,000  of  the  stolen  property,  which  the  detectives  could  not 
find.  He  declared  this  sum  to  be  worth  five  years  in  Sing  Sing,  and  seemed  to 
accept  his  sentence  as  a  purely  business  transaction.  But  he  was  shrewder  than 
he  was  thought,  and  after  gaining  great  renown  as  a  bond-robber,  tried,  convicted,  . 
and  sentenced,  declined,  after  all,  to  go  to  prison  and  herd  with  common  crimi- 
nals, in  recompense  for  his  reputation  and  profits.  He  was  removed  from  the 
City  Prison  by  a  deputy  sheriff,  to  be  taken  to  Sing  Sing,  and  after  two  days' 
aJjsence  that  deputy  coolly  returned  and  reported  that  his  prisoner  had  escaped. 
The  case  was  too  flagrant  to  be  ov^erlooked,  even  in  New  York,  and  the  investi- 
gation which  followed  showed  that  the  deputy  must  have  connived  at  the  escape, 
although  it  was  never  ascertained  what  price  the  prisoner  had  paid  for  his  liberty. 
The  deputy,  being  put  upon  trial,  pleaded  guilty,  and  was  awarded  a  term  of 
four  years  in  State  Prison.  That  was  the  last  ever  heard  of  the  case  ;  and  the 
outraged  law,  which  had  expected  a  great  bond-robber,  was  forced  to  be  content 
with  a  mere  deputy  sheriff. 

There  is  another  case,  where  no  sheriff  or  judge  was  ever  called  to  account 
for  defrauding  the  law  of  its  dues.  One  evening,  two  bold  pickpockets  assaulted 
a  Brooklyn  gentleman  in  a  Broadway  stage  and  tore  a  diamond  pin  from  his 


50  THE  NETHER  SIDE   OF   NEW  YORK. 

shirt  front,  but  were  arrested  the  next  moment  as  they  were  running  from  the 
stage.  The  gentleman  appeared  at  the  station-house  to  make  his  complaint 
against  his  despoilers,  and  was  probably  aware  of  the  devious  ways  of  justice 
in  New  York,  as  he  resolutely  announced  that  he  would  make  every  effort  to 
send  them  to  State  Prison,  as  he  considered  that  it  was  full  time  for  an  example 
to  be  made  of  some  of  the  daring  freebooters  of  the  city.  As  he  was  a  man  of 
considerable  political  prominence,  it  was  thought  that  something  would  come  of 
this  resolution.  The  next  morning  the  two  pickpockets  were  duly  committed  by 
the  police  magistrate  for  trial  at  the  General  Session  ;  but  that  was  the  last  of  the 
case.  It  is  not  known  how  the  matter  was  arranged,  but  it  is  certain  the  cul- 
prits were  never  tried,  and  did  speedily  regain  their  liberty.  Happily,  however, 
one  of  them  soon  afterward  visited  Piiiladelphia,  and,  being  well  known  as  a  thief, 
was  seized  by  virtue  of  a  wholesome  law  of  Pennsylvania,  and  sent  to  jail  for 
ninety  days  on  general  account. 

A  somewhat  similar  case  was  that  of  two  bold  rogues  who  entered  a  disrepu- 
table house,  and  having  lured  two  of  the  women  into  the  hall,  and  in  close  prox- 
imity to  the  door,  snatched  their  jewels  from  their  persons,  and  rushed  into  the 
street ;  but  when  the  hue  and  cry  was  raised,  a  policeman  happened  luckily  to 
be  at  hand,  and  both  were  arrested  in  full  flight,  and  at  only  a  short  distance  from 
the  house.  All  these  facts  were  duly  set  forth  in  the  complaint  before  the  mag- 
istrate and  the  two  men  were  committed  for  examination.  A  raid  was  instant- 
ly made  on  the  complainants  by  the  friends  of  the  prisoners,  to  induce  a  with- 
drawal of  the  charges,  and  so  incessant  were  the  importunities  and  so  liberal  the 
offers,  that  they  were  at  last  induced  to  consent,  and  repairing  at  an  unusual 
hour  to  the  police  court,  when  there  was  sure  to  be  no  impertinent  observer,  ex- 
ecuted the  necessary  papers,  and  the  two  felons  were  promptly  discharged.  It 
may  be  that  in  this  case  no  official  was  guilty  of  anything  worse  than  allowing 
the  thieves  to  compound  a  felony  with  the  complainants,  which  is,  however,  so 
constantly  and  unblushingly  allowed  that  the  authorities  will  probably  be  as- 
tonished and  indignant  to  find  it  rated  as  a  fault. 

The  next  case  illustrates  an  almostevery  day  occurrence  in  police  circles,  and 
shows  how  the  machinery  of  the  criminal  law  is  used  to  enforce  the  payment  of 
civil  debts.  The  accounts  of  a  young  man  occupying  an  important  position  in 
an  insurance  company  became  so  entangled  that  a  charge  of  embezzlement  was 
easily  founded  upon  their  intricacies,  and  late  on  a  Saturday  afternoon  he  was 
arrested  and  locked  up  in  a  police  cell.  The  next  day  was  Sunday  and  he  was 
not  taken  to  court.  His  father,  who  was  permitted  to  see  him,  became  empow- 
ered as  an  ambassador,  and  negotiations  were  opened  with  the  insurance  com- 
pany, and  were  carried  on  with  such  vigor  and  success  that  early  on  Monday 
morning  the  prisoner  was  discharged,  as  the  matter  was  declared  to  have  been 
settled.  The  details  of  the  settlement,  of  course,  were  not  allowed  to  be  known ; 
but  it  did  transpire  that  the  company  had  been  paid  the  full  amount  it  claimed,  and 
the  young  man  saved  from  public  reproach,  since  he  was  never  tried  for  his 
alleged  crime,  and  very  few  ever  knew  of  his  arrest. 

We  come  now  to  the  last  of  these  curious  cases,  which  is  also  the  most  flagrant. 
A  man  having  a  nursery  a  short  distance  from  the  city  established  a  stand  in 
one  of  our  markets,  for  the  sale  of  shrubs  and  plants,  and  engaged  a  young  man 
as  salesman,  but  first  required  him  to  deposit  $500  as  security  for  his  honesty. 
After  a  time  the  returns  of  sales  were  not  satisfactory  to  the  nurseryman,  and 
he  spoke  of  the  matter  to  a  friend,  who  happened  to  be  a  prominent  detective. 
The  friend  surmised  at  once  that  the  salesman  was  embezzling  the  receipts.     The 


WHY    THIEVES    PROSPER.  51 

detective  said  he  could  fix  him,  and  was  as  good  as  his  word.  Goin"-  to  the 
stand  in  the  character  of  a  purchaser,  he  paid  over  a  marked  five  dollar  bill,  and 
without  giving  the  salesman  time  to  make  return  of  the  transaction,  appeared 
in  his  detective  character,  and  upon  arresting  him  of  course  found  the  marked 
money  upon  him.  The  clerk  was  carried  off  to  a  cell,  and  kept  there,  in  bold  vio- 
lation of  the  law,  forty-eight  hours  before  he  was  taken  before  a  magistrate.  But 
the  time  was  needed,  and  it  was  busily  employed.  First,  an  attorney  was 
allowed  access  to  the  cell  of  the  prisoner,  to  assure  him  that  he  was  certain  to 
go  to  prison  for  five  years,  unless  he  settled  with  the  complainant  by  assigning 
to  him  the  $500 ;  and  the  prisoner  consenting  to  this,  was  taken  before  a  police 
magistrate,  who  was  asked  to  discharge  him  on  the  ground  that  no  proof  could  be 
obtained  against  him.  But  the  magistrate  happened  to  be  in  an  inquiring  mood, 
and  finally  arriving  at  something  near  the  truth  of  the  affair,  ordered  the  $500 
to  be  paid  into  court.  What  eventually  became  of  that  money  is  a  mystery ;  it 
is  only  certain  that  the  unfortunate  salesman  never  was  burdened  with  a  dollar 
of  it  again. 

Space  will  not  allow  the  further  multiplication  of  these  citations.  Even  thus 
hastily  dealt  with,  the  inherent  corruption  of  the  correctional  administration 
of  law  in  New  York  has  become  apparent ;  but  how  thoroughly  rotten  or  imbecile 
are  the  whole  police  and  judicial  systems  has  been  but  faintly  shadowed.  Re- 
formation must  come,  and  speedily,  or  honesty,,  instead  of  being  the  best,  will  be 
the  very  worst  possible  policy  in  a  city  handed  over  utterly  into  the  hands  of 
thieves.  The  law,  as  it  is.,  if  vigorously,  intelligently,  and  honestly  administered, 
might  suffice  to  repress  crime  and  corruption  to  a  certain  extent,  but  some  special 
amendments  are  needed  before  any  material  reformation  can  be  expected. 

The  first  necessity  is  to  utterly  eradicate  the  present  detective  system.  Cor- 
ruption has  become  so  universal  that  it  can  only  be  stayed  by  the  law's  making 
it  a  felony  for  a  police  officer  to  receive  any  reward  whatever  beyond  the  salary 
attached  to  his  position.  In  some  way  the  attention  of  the  police  officer  must  be 
diverted  from  the  property  stolen  to  the  person  stealing  it.  Somehow  the  bro- 
kerage in  crime  upon  the  part  of  officials,  which  is  constantly  increasing,  must 
be  stopped,  and  there  is  no  way  of  effecting  the  reform  of  which  there  is  such 
terrible  need,  except  by  the  law  putting  the  detectives  and  magistrates,  who  pan- 
der to  crime  or  share  in  any  way  in  its  gains,  upon  the  same  footmg  with  the 
original  thief. 

In  these  remarks  I  do  not  intend  to  malign  individuals,  but  rather  to  attack 
a  system  of  doing  public  business  which  has  become  so  universal  that  it  has 
compelled  many  good  men  to  look  upon  themselves  as  something  worse  than  the 
criminals  they  are  supposed  to  pursue.  To  cut  off  the  detective  from  all  hope  of 
receiving  any  reward  for  recovering  stolen  property,  may  appear  a  harsh  measure, 
and  would  probably  prove  so  in  many  cases,  but  there  is  no  other  way  of  exter- 
minating the  evil.  But  it  is  absurd  to  expect  that  men  fitted  by  experience, 
knowledge  of  criminals,  and  the  rare  and  peculiar  acumen  required  for  detective 
work,  can  be  had  for  the  mere  pittance  now  paid  them.  The  law  virtually  de- 
clares the  Central  Detective  Squad  a  fraud  and  a  sham,  by  allowing  its  members 
only  the  same  pay  given  the  inexperienced  patrolman  from  the  day  he  begins  po- 
lice duty.  It  is  presumed  these  detectives  are  called  to  higher  duties  than  are 
required  c^  the  patrolmen,  and  there  is  no  good  reason  why  the  pay  of  police  of- 
ficers should  not  be  graded  according  to  the  experience  and  capacity  demanded 
by  the  position.  Cut  off  the  outside  rewards,  give  honest  wages,  and  it  may  be 
possible  to  obtain  honest  detective  work. 


52  THE  NETHER  SIDE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

When  the  law  has  weeded  out  corruption,  it  should  clothe  its  officers  with 
additional  power  to  secure  the  outlaws.  Lately  a  police  captain  sought  to  rid 
his  precinct  of  the  professional  thieves  who  infested  it,  by  arresting  a  number  of 
them  as  vagrants,  but  the  move  was  a  complete  failure.  When  taken  before  the 
magistrate  every  thief  could  sliow  money  and  goodly  raiment,  and  no  policeman 
could  make  oath  that  he  might  not  have  worked  on  some  day  named  by  the 
shrewd  counsel  he  had  funds  enough  to  employ.  What  is  needed,  therefore,  is 
a  law,  provided  with  proper  safeguards  against  its  abuse,  establishing  the  same 
summary  proceedings  against  thieves,  as  are  now  in  force  with  reference  to  va- 
grants. If  upon  proper  proof  that  a  man  is  a  professional  thief,  the  magistrates 
were  compelled  to  send  him  to  the  penitentiary  for  a  short  term,  the  outlaws 
who  now  crowd  the  thoroughfares  of  New  York  would  very  soon  be  driven  into 
honesty,  or  other  cities.  As  it  is  to-day,  general  repute  counts  nothing  against 
the  criminal  until  he  is  charged  with  some  specific  oftence  ;  as  it  would  be  then, 
there  would  not  be  an  hour  of  his  life  when  he  would  not  be  transgressing  the 
law,  and  could  not  be  awarded  its  penalty.  Such  a  law  would  be. abused  to  some 
extent,  perhaps,  but  it  could  be  made  to  drive  out  the  hordes  of  professional  out- 
laws. But  certainly  the  city  can  well  afford  to  take  the  risk  of  the  abuses  of 
.such  a  law  in  order  to  gain  its  benefits.  Society  has  the  right  of  self-protection  ; 
and  something  must  be  done  if  thievery  is  not  very  soon  to  become  the  most 
profitable  and  best-protected  of  industrial  pursuits. 

But  in  apportioning  the  profligacy  of  which  I  speak,  the  people,  and  more  es- 
pecially men  engaged  in  extensive  mercantile  and  financial  aifairs,  must  be  held 
in  no  small  degree  responsible  for  its  existence.  Very  often  when  police  and 
magistrates  would  be  content  with  recovering  onl\^  a  portion  of  the  stolen  prop- 
erty, provided  the  thieves  were  punished,  the  despoiled  parties  insist  upon  an 
entire  reversal  of  proceedings.  They  strive,  and  scheme,  and  dicker  with  out- 
laws to  regain  the  last  possible  penny,  and  sell  their  own  honor  and  the  safety 
of  the  community  by  shamelessly  promising  immunity  for  crime  in  excliange  for 
all  but  a  small  per  cent,  of  their  stolen  treasures.  Very  often  the  detectives  find 
the  losers  insuperable  obstacles  in  the  way  of  justice.  There  is  much  pertinence 
in  the  shrewd  saying  of  a  late  officer,  that  the  detectives  can,  indeed,  run  a  tliief 
to  earth,  but  only  the  person  robbed  can  pen  him  there  ;  and  that  it  is  chiefly 
the  fault  of  the  robbed  that  thieves  go  free  that  men  calling  themselves  honest 
may  get  their  due.  N.o  statutory  provision  can  be  made  to  reach  the  men  whose 
greed  is  so  perilous  to  public  safety  ;  but  it  can  be  hoped  that  when  the  law  has 
put  the  seal  of  infamy  upon  its  officials  engaging  in  such  work,  the  citizen  will 
be  shamed  into  honesty,  and  cease  to  rush  into  personal  negotiations  with  thieves 
when  a  detective  with  a  remnant  of  conscience  left  in  him  has  refused  to  act  as 
his  go-between.  But  the  official  circle  must  at  any  rate  be  purified  ;  and  that 
done,  some  improvement  in  public  morals  is  certain  to  result.  The  evil  will  not 
be  extinguished,  biit  it  will  be  so  far  abated  that  the  experienced,  educated, 
adroit  thief  will  be  less  an  object  of  envy  than  now. 

What  I  have  said  may  perhaps  explain  why  such  affairs  as  the  Lord  bond 
robbery  and  the  Ocean  Bank  burglary  can  constantly  occur  and  yet  no  thief  ca- 
pable of  such  work  ever  be  made  to  know  by  his  personal  experience  that  in  the 
eye  of  the  law  his  deeds  are  crimes.  When  I  have  added  what  is  known  of  pri- 
vate detectives,  they  cannot  possibly  continue  mysteries. 


PRIVATE    DETECTIVES. 


BROADWAY  is  a  street  of  marvels  and  mysteries,  where  all  tricks  of  trade 
have  place  and  the  last  resorts  of  scheming  knavery  are  found.  These 
are  of  many  kinds,  of  which  some  have  mounted  to  the  decrepitude  of  lofts,  while 
others  are  lodged  in  the  dignity  and  prosperity  of  second  floors.  One  of  these 
latter  is  situated  in  the  commercial  heart  of  the  city.  It  is  a  Private  Detective 
office. 

The  visitor  going  up  the  broad  stairs  finds  himself  in  a  large  room,  which  is 
plainly  the  main  office  of  the  concern.  There  is  a  desk  with  the  authoritative 
hedge  of  an  iron  railing,  behind  which  sits  a  furrowed  man  who  looks  an  ani- 
mated cork-screw,  and  who,  the  mquiring  visitor  soon  discovers,  can't  speak 
above  a  whisper,  or  at  least  don't.  This  mysterious  person  is  always  mistaken 
for  the  chief  of  the  establishment ;  but,  in  fact,  he  is  nothing  but  the  "  Secreta- 
ry," and  holds  his  place  by  reason  of  a  marvellous  capacity  for  drawing  people 
out  of  themselves.  A  mystery,  he  is  surrounded  with  mysteries.  The  doors 
upon  his  right  and  left — one  of  which  is  occasionally  opened  just  far  enough  to 
permit  a  very  diminutive  call-boy  to  be  squeezed  through — seem  to  lead  to  unex- 
plored regions.  But  stranger  than  even  the  clerk  or  the  undefined  but  yet  per- 
fectly tangible  weirdness  of  the  doors  is  the  tinkling  of  a  sepulchral  bell  and  the 
responsive  tramp  of  a  heavy-heeled  boot.  And  strangest  of  all  is  a  huge  black- 
board whereon  are  marked  the  figures  from  i  to  20,  over  some  of  which  the 
word  "Out"  is  written;  and  the  visitor  notices  with  ever-increasing  wonder 
that  the  tinkling  of  the  bell  and  the  heavy-heeled  tramp  are  usually  followed  by 
the  mysterious  secretary's  scrawling  "  Out"  over  another  number,  being  apparent- 
ly incited  thereto  by  a  whisper  of  the  ghostly  call-boy  who  is  squeezed  through 
a  crack  in  the  door  for  that  purpose.  The  door  which  the  call-boy  abjures  is 
always  slightly  ajar,  and  at  the  aperture  there  is  generally  a  wolfish  eye  glaring 
so  steadily  and  rapaciously  into  the  office  as  to  raise  a  suspicion  that  beasts  of 
fcprey  are  crouching  behind  that  forbidding  door. 

Nor  is  the  resulting  alarm  entirely  groundless,  for  that  is  the  room  where  the 
ferrets  of  the  house  who  assume  the  name  of  detectives,  but  are  more  significantly 
called  "shadows,"  are  hidden  from  the  prying  eyes  of  the  world.  A  "shadow" 
here  is  merely  a  numeral — No.  i  or  something  higher — and  obeys  cabalistic  calls 
conveyed  by  bells  or  speaking-tubes,  by  which  devices  the  stranger  patron  is 
convinced  of  the  potency  of  the  Detective  Agenc}'  which  moves  in  such  myste- 
rious ways  to  perform  its  wonders.  If  any  doubt  were  left  by  all  this  parapher- 
nalia of  marvel,  it  would  be  dispelled  from  the  average  mind  when  it  came  in 
contact  with  the  chief  conjurer,  who  is  seated  in  the  dim  seclusion  of  a  retired 
room,  fortified  by  bell-pulls,  speaking-tubes,  and  an  owlish  expression  intended 
to  be  considered  as  the  mirror  of  taciturn  wisdom.  From  his  retreat  he  moves 
the  outside  puppets  of  secretary,  shadows,  and  call-boys,  as  the  requirements 
of  his  patrons,  who  are  admitted  singly  to  his  presence,  may  demand.  It  is  he 
whose  hoarse  whispers  sound  sepulchrally  through  the  tubes,  who  rings  the  mys- 
terious bell,  and  by  such  complex  means  despatches  his  "shadows"  upon  their 
errands.  It  is  he  who  permits  the  mildewed  men  in  the  other  ante-room  to  be 
known  only  by  numbers,  and  who  guards  them  so  carefully  from  the  general 
view. 


54  THE  NETHER  SIDE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

By  these  assumptions  of  mystery  the  chief  awes  the  patrons  of  his  peculiar 
calling,  of  whom  there  are  pretty  sure  to  be  several  in  waiting  during  the 
morning  hours.  These  applicants  for  detective  assistance  always  sit  stolidly 
silent  until  their  separate  summons  comes  to  join  the  chief,  eyeing  each  other 
suspiciously  and  surveying  their  surroundings  with  unconcealed  and  fitting  awe. 
One  is  of  bluff  and  hearty  appearance,  but  his  full  face  is  overcast  for  the  moment 
with  an  expression  half  sad,  half  whimsical ;  it  is  plain  that  a  conjunction  of 
untoward  circumstances  has  raised  doubts  in  his  mind  of  the  integrity  of  a  busi- 
ness associate,  and  he  has  reluctantly  determined  to  clear  or  confirm  them  by 
means  of  a  "shadow."  Next  to  him  is  a  fidgety  furrowed  man,  bristling  with 
suspicion  in  every  line  of  his  face,  and  showing  by  his  air  of  indifference  to  his 
surroundings  that  he  is  a  frequenter  of  the  place.  He  is  in  fact  one  of  the  best 
customers  of  the  establishment,  as  he  is  constantly  invoking  its  aid  in  the  petty 
concerns  of  his  corroded  life.  Sometimes  it  is  a  wife,  daughter,  sister,  niece,  or 
a  mere  female  acquaintance  he  wishes  watched ;  sometimes  it  is  a  business 
partner  or  a  rival  in  trade  he  desires  dogged  ;  and  he  is  never  so  miserable  as 
when  the  reports  of  the  agency  show  his  suspicions,  whatever  they  may  have 
been,  to  be  groundless.  It  is  but  just,  however,  to  the  sagacity  of  the  detectives 
to  remark  that  he  is  seldom  subjected  to  such  disappointment.  Whatever  other 
foolishness  they  may  commit,  these  adroit  operators  never  kill  the  goose  that 
lays  their  golden  eggs.  Beside  this  animated  monument  of  distrust  is  a  portly 
gentleman,  his  bearing  in  every  way  suggestive  of  plethoric  pockets.  Paper  and 
pencil  in  hand,  he  is  nervously  figuring.  He  makes  no  secret  of  his  figures  be- 
cause of  his  absorption,  and  a  glance  shows  that  he  is  correcting  the  numbers 
of  bonds  and  making  sure  of  the  amounts  they  represent. 

It  is  plain  that  this  last  is  a  victim  of  a  sneak  robbery,  and,  the  unerring  scent 
of  the  chief  selecting  him  as  the  most  profitable  customer  of  the  morning,  he  is 
the  first  visitor  called  to  an  audience.  Large  affairs  are  quickly  despatched,  and 
it  is  soon  arranged  how  a  part  of  the  property  can  be  recovered  and  justice 
cheated  of  its  due.  Very  soon  a  handbill  will  be  publicly  distributed,  offering 
a  reward  for  the  return  of  the  bonds,  and  it  will  be  signed  by  the  Agency.  The 
thief  will  know  exactly  what  that  means,  and  the  affair  being  closed  to  mutual 
satisfaction,  the  thief  will  be  at  liberty  to  repeat  the  operation,  which  resulted  in 
reasonable  profit  and  was  attended  with  no  risk. 

There  is  also  in  the  room  a  sallow,  vinegary  woman  of  uncertain  years, 
and  it  seems  so  natural  that  a  man  should  run  away  from  her,  we  are  not  sur- 
prised that,  being  voluble  in  her  grief,  she  declares  her  business  to  be  the  dis- 
covery of  an  absconding  husband.  But  near  her  is  another  and  truer  type  o( 
outraged  womanhood,  a  wasted  young  wife,  beautiful  as  ruins  are  beautiful,  whom 
a  rascal  spendthrift  has  made  a  martyr  to  his  selfishness  until,  patience  and  hope 
being  exhausted,  she  is  driven  to  the  last  extremity,  and  seeks  by  a  means  at 
which  her  nature  revolts  for  a  proof  of  but  one  of  those  numerous  violations  of 
the  marriage  vow  which  she  feels  certain  he  has  committed.  It  is  a  cruel  re- 
sort, but  the  law  which  permits  a  man  to  outrage  a  woman  in  almost  every  other 
way  frowns  upon  that  one,  and  she  is  driven  to  it  as  the  sole  method  of  release 
from  an  intolerable  and  degrading  bondage.  In  such  cases  as  this  might  per- 
haps be  found  some  justification  for  the  existence  of  private  detectives  ;  but  they 
themselves  do  not  appear  to  know  that  they  stand  in  need  of  extenuation,  and 
so  neglect  tjje  opportunity  thus  presented  to  vindicate  their  necessity  by  con- 
ducting this  class  of  their  business  with,  even  for  them,  remarkable  lack  of 
conscience.     Anxious  always  to  furnish  exactly  what  is  desired,  their  reports  are 


PRIVATE  DETECTIVES.  55 

often  lies,  manufactured  to  suit  the  occasion,  and  once  furnished  they  are  stoutly 
adhered  to,  even  to  the  last  extremity.  Frequently  the  same  Agency  is  ready 
to  and  does  serve  both  parties  to  a  case  with  impartial  wickedness,  and  earns  its 
wages  by  giving  to  both  precisely  the  sort  of  evidence  each  requires.  Some- 
times it  is  made  to  order,  with  no  other  foundation  than  previous  experience  in 
like  affairs  ;  but  sometimes  it  has  a  more  solid  basis  in  fact.  Two  men  from  the 
same  office  are  often  detailed  to  "  shadow,"  one  the  husband  and  the  other  the 
wife,  and  it  occasionally  happens  that  they  have  mastered  the  spirit  of  theit 
calling  so  thoroughly  that  they  do  a  little  business  on  private  account  by  '"giv- 
ing away"  each  other.  That  is  to  say,  the  husband's  man  informs  the  wife  she 
is  watched,  and  gives  her  a  minute  description  of  her  "shadow,"  for  which  in- 
formation he  of  course  gets  an  adequate  reward,  which  the  wife's  man  likewise 
earns  and  receives  by  doing  the  same  kindly  office  for  the  husband.  In  such 
cases  there  are  generally  mutual  recriniinations  between  the  watched,  which  end 
in  a  discovery  of  the  double  dealing  of  the  Agency,  and  not  infrequently  in  a 
reconciliation  of  the  estranged  couple.  But  this  rare  result,  which  is  not  in- 
tended by  the  directing  power,  is  the  sole  good  purpose  these  agencies  were  ever 
known  to  serve.  Lord  Mansfield,  it  must  be  admitted,  once  seemed  to  justify 
the  use  of  private  detectives  in  divorce  suits,  but  he  was  careful  to  cumber  the 
faint  praise  with  which  he  damned  them  by  making  honesty  in  the  discharge  of 
these  delicate  duties  a  first  essential.  Had  he  lived  to  see  the  iniquitous  perfec- 
tion the  business  has  now  attained,  he  would  undoubtedly  have  withheld  even 
that  quasi-endorsement  of  a  system  naturally  at  war  with  the  fundamental  prin- 
ciples of  justice. 

The  waiters  in  the  reception-room  are  never  allowed  to  state  their  wants,  or 
certainly  not  to  leave  the  place,  without  being  astonished  by  tlie  charges  made  by 
the  detective  for  attention  to  their  business.  Whatever  differences  there  maybe 
in  minor  matters,  all  these  establishments  are  invariably  true  to  the  great  pur- 
pose of  their  existence,  and  prepare  the  way  for  an  exorbitant  bill  by  a  doleful 
explanation  of  the  expenses  and  risks  to  be  incurred  jn  the  special  aft<*ir  pre- 
sented, dilating  especially  upon  the  rarity  and  cost  of  competent  "  shadows." 
Now  the  principal  agencies  estimate  for  them  at  $10  a  day,  whereas  these  dis- 
reputable fellows  are  found  in  multitudes,  and  are  rarely  paid  more  than  $3  a  day 
as  wages  ;  their  expenses,  paid  in  advance  by  the  patron,  are  allowed  them  when 
assigned  to  duties,  as  they  frequently  are,  involving  outlay.  The  general  truth  is 
that  these  agencies,  being  conducted  for  the  avowed  purpose  of  making  money, 
get  as  much  as  possible  for  doing  work,  and  pay  as  little  as  possible  for  having 
it  done.  In  their  general  business  of  espionage  they  may  make  perhaps  only  a 
moderate  profit  on  each  affair  they  take  in  hand  ;  but  in  the  more  delicate 
branches  of  compounding  felonies  and  manufacturing  witnesses  fancy  prices  ob- 
tain, and  the  profits  are  not  computable.  It  is  plain,  knowing  of  these  patrons 
and  prices,  that  reasonable  profit  attends  upon  the  practice  of  the  convenient 
science  of  getting  without  giving,  which,  notwithstanding  its  prosperity  and 
antiquity,  is  yet  an  infant  in  the  perfection  it  has  attained.  Awkward,  flimsy, 
transparent  as  they  ever  were,  are  yet  the  tricks  and  devices  of  the  knaves  who 
never  want  for  a  dollar,  never  earn  an  honest  one,  but  never  render  themselves 
amenable  to  any  statute  "in  such  case  made  and  provided."  To  say  that  the 
master-workmen  in  roguery  who  do  this  sort  of  thing  are  awkward  and  trans- 
parent seems  to  involve  a  paradox  ;  but  whoever  so  believes  has  not  been  fully 
informed  as  to  the  amazing  gullibility  of  mankind.  The  average  rft^n  of  busi- 
ness now,  as  always  before,  seems  to  live  only  to  be  swindled  by  the  same 


56  THE  NETHER  SIDE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

specious  artifices  that  gulled  his  ancestors,  and  which  will  answer  to  pluck 
him  a^:iin  almost  before  the  smart  of  iiis  first  depletion  has  ceased.  Only 
by  a  thorough  knowledge  of  this  singular  adaptation  of  the  masses  to  tiie 
purposes  of  the  birds  of  prey,  can  we  intelligently  account  for  the  vast  bevies 
of  the  latter  which  exist,  and  are  outwardU-  so  sleek  as  to  give  evidence  of  a 
prosperous  condition.  When  we  know  that  the  "pocket-book  dropper"  yet 
decoys  the  money  even  of  the  city-bred  by  his  stale  device;  that  the  "gift 
enterprises,"  "envelope  game,"  and  similar  threadbare  tricks  yet  serve  to  at- 
tain the  ends  of  the  sharpers,  although  the  public  has  been  warned  scores  and 
scores  of  limes  through  the  public  press,  and  the  swindlers  thoroughly  exposed, 
so  that  the  veriest  fool  can  understand  the  deception,  we  need  not  be  amazed  at 
the  success  which  attends  the  practice  of  these  arts.  The  truth  is,  that  a  large 
proportion  of  the  victims  are  perfectly  aware  that  fleecing  is  intended  when  they 
flutter  round  the  bait  of  the  rogues  ;  but  they  are  allured  by  the  glitter  of  sud- 
den fortune  which  it  offers,  and  bite  eagerly  with  the  hope  that  may  be  supposed 
to  sustain  any  gudgeon  of  moderate  experience  of  snapping  the  bait  and  escap- 
ing the  barbed  hook.  Human  greed  is  the  reliance  of  the  general  sharper,  and 
it  has  served  him  to  excellent  jjurpose  for  many  years.  But  some  of  these  ope- 
rators must  depend  on  actuating  motives  far  different  from  the  desire  of  gain  in 
money;  and  chief  among  them  are  these  private  detectives,  who  draw  their  sus- 
tenance from  meaner  and  equally  unfailing  fountains. 

It  is  not  upon  record  who  bestowed  a  name  which  is  more  apt  than  designa- 
tions usually  are.  The  word  detective,  taken  by  itself,  implies  one  who  must 
descend  to  questionable  shifts  to  attain  justifiable  ends  ;  but  with  the  prefix 
of  private,  it  means  one  using  a  machine  permitted  to  the  exigencies  of  jus- 
tice for  the  purpose  of  surreptitious  personal  gain.  Thus  used,  this  agency, 
which  even  in  honest  hands  and  for  lawful  ends  is  one  of  douljtful  propriety,  be- 
comes essentially  dangerous  and  demoralizing.  Originally  an  individual  enter- 
prise, the  last  resort  of  plausible  rascals  driven  to  desperation  to  evade  honest 
labor,  it  has  come  to  be  one  of  associated  eflfort,  employing  much  capital  in  its 
establishment  and  some  capacity  in  its  direction.  All  the  large  commercial 
cities  are  now  liberally  provided  with  "Detective  Agencies,"  as  tliey  are  called, 
each  thoroughly  organized,  and  some  of  them  employing  a  large  number  of 
"shadows  "  to  do  the  business,  which  in  large  part  they  must  first  create  before 
it  can  b'e  done.  The  system  being  perfected  and  worked  to  its  utmost  capacity, 
the  details  of  the  tasks  assumed  and  the  method  of  accomplishment  are  astor.- 
ishing  and  alarming  to  the  reflecting  citizen,  who  has  the  good  name  and  well- 
oeing  of  the  community  at  heart.  Employed  in  the  mercantile  world  as  sup- 
posed guards  against  loss  by  unfaithful  associates  or  employees,  and  in  social  life 
as  searchers  for  domestic  laxness,  these  two  items  make  up  the  bulk  of  the  busi- 
ness which  the  private  detectives  profess  to  do,  and  through  these  their  perni- 
cious influence  is  felt  in  all  the  relations  of  life.  Were  they  however  only  the  in- 
struments of  rapacious  and  unreasoning  distrust,  they  might  be  suffered  to  pass 
without  rebuke  as  evils  affecting  only  those  who  choose  to  meddle  with  them  ;  but 
as  they  go  further  and  the  community  fares  worse  because  they  are  ever  ready 
to  turn  a  dishonest  penny  by  recovering  stolen  property,  which  tliey  can  only  do 
by  compounding  the  crime  by  which  it  had  been  acquired,  it  is  evident  that  they 
are  a  peril  to  society  in  general  no  less  than  a  pest  to  particular  classes. 

It  is  a  shame  and  danger  of  our  country  that  love  of  property  is  permitted  to 
so  overl)al  uice  all  other  considerations,  tiiat  it  is  the  almost  universal  police  e.x- 
oerience  when  a  robbery  is  reported  that  the  loser  makes  the  recovery  of  his 


PRIVATE  DETECTIVES.  57 

property  the  first  and  nearly  always  the  only  object  of  his  solicitude.  He  is 
ready  to  do  anything  short  of  sending  good  money  after  bad,  to  recover  what  he 
has  lost,  and  will  invariably  sacritice  the  right  of  society  to  punish  the  thief,  to 
regain  even  a  portion  of  his  treasures.  He  hampers  the  officer  of  the  law  at 
every  step  if  that  official  endeavors  to  secure  the  criminal  rather  than  his  plun- 
der. Indeed,  there  is  no  obstacle  to  the  proper  administration  of  justice  so  in- 
superable as  these  greedy  victims  of  tliievery.  A  case  which  has  just  occurred 
so  plainly  illustrates  this  grave  public  danger,  that  its  statement  will  not  be  un- 
profitable. A  gentleman  on  his  way  home  about  two  o'clock  one  morning  was 
knocked  down  in  Bleecker  street  with  such  violence  as  to  inflict  a  permanent  in- 
jury to  his  jaw,  and  then  robbed  of  his  watch  and  money.  He  was  of  course  in- 
dignant at  the  police  inefficiency  which  had  permitted  such  a  crime,  and  loudly 
demanded  the  recovery  of  his  property  and  the  punishment  of  his  assailant,  just 
as  all  such  victims  do  at  first.  After  much  labor  the  police  finally  estab- 
lished the  identity  of  the  highwayman,  but  found  also  that  he  had  left  the  city. 
He  was,  however,  one  of  the  best  known  of  a  gang  of  ruffians  who  have  made 
the  once  aristocratic  Bleecker  street  one  of  the  most  infamous  and  dangerous 
localities  of  New  York  ;  and  a  watch  being  kept  for  his  reappearance,  he  was  ar 
rested  within  an  hour  after  his  return  to  his  old  haunt.  But  almost  within  the 
same  hour  one  of  the  fellow's  comrades  visited  the  victim,  returned  him  his 
watch,  and  made  prodigal  promises  of  further  recompense  if  the  prosecution  was 
not  pressed.  As  a  consequence,  the  victim,  who  had  before  averred  that  he  could 
swear  to  the  identity  of  his  assailant  beyond  mistake,  now  became  doubtful,  and 
when  forced  to  admit  that  the  prisoner  was  the  man,  flatly  refused  to  prosecute. 
The  whole  power  of  the  law  had  to  be  used  to  make  him  appear,  and  when  final- 
ly the  highwayman  pleaded  guilty  in  the  Court  of  Oyer  and  Terminer,  and  was 
sentenced  to  a  term  of  ten  years  ir  State's  Prison,  the  victim  had  the  effrontery 
to  stand  up  before  the  judges  of  the  land  and  plead,  as  well  as  his  broken  jaw 
would  permit,  for  the  pardon  of  the  outlaw.  While  this  case  is  in  some  respects 
an  extreme  one,  it  is  by  no  means  uncommon,  and  the  District  Attorney  of  Nev7 
York  can  certify  that  thieves  find  their  surest  refuge  in  the  cupidity  or  maudlin 
sympathy  of  their  victims. 

The  private  detectives  are  ever  ready  to  aid  and  abet  this  willingness  to  com- 
promise with  robbery  and  to  assist  in  the  work  of  making  thievery  safe  and  pro- 
fitable. The  Police  Commissioners  of  New  York  have  never  had  the  courage  to 
inform  the  public  of  the  number  of  burglaries  and  robberies  annually  committed 
in  the  metropolis  ;  but  enough  is  known  in  a  general  way  for  us  to  be  certain  that 
there  are  hundreds  of  these  crimes  committed  of  which  the  public  is  not  told. 
The  rule  is  to  keep  secret  all  such  affairs  when  an  arrest  does  not  follow  the  of- 
fence, and  hardly  any  police  official  will  venture  to  claim  that  the  arrest  accurs 
in  more  than  a  moiety  of  the  cases.  There  are  hundreds  of  such  crimes  every 
year  where  the  criminal  is  not  detected,  and  hundreds  of  thousands  of  dollars' 
worth  of  property  stolen  of  which  the  police  never  find  a  trace.  These  facts  fur- 
nish the  basis  for  the  common  belief  that  somebody  is  continually  compounding 
felonies,  and  that  a  large  part  of  this  stolen  property  is  continually  finding  its 
way  back  to  the  legitimate  owners  through  means  inimical  to  the  best  interests 
of  society.  The  most  casual  and  superficial  reader  of  the  daily  papers  infers  as 
much,  when  he  cannot  take  up  an  issue  of  any  one  of  them  wiihout  the  risk  of 
sti.mbling  upon  an  advertisement  in  which  some  thief  is  invited  to  return  certain 
property,  "  when  a  suitable  reward  will  be  paid  and  no  questions  asked."  To  a 
deplorable  extent  some  officers  of  the  law  have  been  engaged  in  this  disreputa- 


58  THE  NETHER  SIDE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

ble  commerce  with  thievery,  but  the  bulk  of  it  has  been  and  is  done  by  the  pri- 
vate detectives.  With  them  it  is  natural,  for  it  is  their  sole  purpose  to  make 
money,  and  as  they  are  not  sworn  officials  of  the  law,  they  do  not  feel  them- 
selves called  upon  to  cage  a  thief  at  every  opportunity. 

Let  me  now  give  some  instances  to  show  how  private  detectives  work  in 
their  profitable  field.  In  all  of  the  cases  cited,  names  will  be  suppressed,  for  the 
reason  that  it  is  intended  to  arraign  a  system  rather  than  attack  individuals. 

Not  long  since,  a  person  known  as  a  private  detective  installed  himself  in 
the  confidence  and  employment  of  a  large  retail  house  in  Broadway,  by  means 
of  his  representations  that  he  knew  all  the  shoplifters  and  pickpockets,  and 
thus  was  able  to  "spot"  any  of  them  the  moment  they  entered  the  shop,  and  so 
could  save  tlie  firm  and  its  patrons  thousands  of  dollars  every  year.  As  a  mat- 
ter of  fact,  he  knew  none  of  either  criminal  class.  His  presence  on  the  premises 
therefore  did  not  have  the  expected  effect  of  preventing  depredations.  Confi- 
dence in  his  ability  to  perform  as  he  had  promised  waned  with  each  successive 
robbery,  and  our  blatant  detective  soon  saw  that  he  must  catch  a  thief  or  be 
himself  caught  in  a  palpable  false  pretence.  He  was  equal  to  the  occasion.  By 
dint  of  many  inquiries  among  the  police,  he  came  to  know  the  persons  of  two 
noted  female  shoplifters,  one  of  whom,  by  the  way,  is  an  exceedingly  handsome 
woman.  He  made  the  acquaintance  of  these  outlaws,  and,  calling  upon  them  at 
their  home,  represented  himself  as  on  the  "cross,"  and  proposed  a  job  in  which 
he  should  be  a  partner  in  the  profits  in  consideration  of  the  assistance  he  would 
give  in  carrying  it  out.  This  aid,  he  averred,  would  be  most  effective,  as  he  had 
"fixed"  the  clerk  at  the  lace  shawl  counter,  and  that  person  would  be  conve- 
niently blind  at  the  moment  chosen  by  the  thieves  to  slip  the  costly  articles  from 
the  counter  into  the  immense  pockets  they  all  have  suspended  to  the  waist, 
under  the  dress.  The  women  did  not  rise  eagerly  to  the  bait  thus  presented ; 
on  the  contrary,  they  at  first  absolutely  refused,  partly  through  distrust  of  him 
and  partly  from  repugnance  to  stealing  when  necessity  did  not  drive  them.  But 
he  was  so  eloquently  persuasive  on  the  absolute  safety  and  great  profit  of  the 
operation,  that  they  at  last  consented,  and  named  an  hour  when  they  would  be 
at  the  store  to  do  the  job.  When  the  time  arrived  Mr.  Detective  had  all  his 
preparations  made  to  "spot"  and  capture  them  in  the  act.  As  he  had  no  legal 
authority  to  make  an  arrest,  he  detained  a  policeman  who  was  on  post  in  the  vi- 
cinity of  the  store,  by  his  confident  assertion  that  there  would  be  work  there 
presently.  True  to  their  promise,  the  women  came,  and  he,  true  to  his  villany, 
pounced  upon  them  the  moment  they  had  slipped  several  of  the  lace  shawls  into 
their  pockets.  The  policeman  was  called  in,  the  women  given  into  custody,  and, 
with  the  stolen  property  upon  their  persons,  the  evidence  of  guilt  was  so  com- 
plete that  both  were  eventually  sent  to  State's  Prison.  The  detective  flourished 
hugely  on  the  credit  of  that  detection,  and,  not  content  with  receiving  the  plau- 
dits and  presents  of  his  immediate  employers,  went  to  all  retail  dry-goods  houses 
in  the  street  claiming  a  recompense  for  caging  two  such  dangerous  characters. 
The  truth  of  the  way  in  which  he  had  caged  them  soon  came  out,  but  it  failed  lo 
have  its  proper  etfect  of  sending  him  to  keep  liis  victims  company  at  Sing  Sing. 

The  incidents  next  to  be  related  were  developed  by  a  thorough  investigation 
of  the  rascality  they  involved,  and  constitute  one  of  the  most  curious  and  char-- 
acteristic  specimens  of  private  detective  work  ever  discovered.  A  man  who  was 
forced  to  leave  Canada  because  of  the  authorities  pressing  him  for  explanations 
of  certain  smuggling  transactions,  came  to  New  York  as  a  natural  refuge,  and 
speedily  finding  a  suitable  associate,  set  up  a  private  detective  agency  in  the 


PRIVATE  DETFXTIVES.  59 

neighborhood  of  Wall  street.  The  two  men  soon  struck  a  new  vein  of  villany, 
and  followed  it  with  a  persistence  that  was  admirable,  and  a  clumsiness  that 
counted  largely  but  safely  on  the  credulity  of  the  business  world.  One  Monday 
morning,  one  of  these  plausible  gentlemen  waited  on  the  agent  of  a  principal 
line  of  ocean  steamers  sailing  between  New  York  and  Liverpool,  with  a  marvel- 
lous story  of  contemplated  crime  of  which  he  had  obtained  knowledge  by  the 
stale  device  of  overhearing  a  conversation.  His  revelation  was  to  the  effect 
that  he  was  on  board  the  ship  which  sailed  on  the  previous  Saturday,  just  before 
her  departure,  and  happened  to  overhear  a  conversation  between  one  of  the  offi- 
cers, whom  he  did  not  particularly  designate,  and  a  man  of  Jewish  appearance, 
whom  he  did  not  know.  The  purport  of  their  talk  was  an  arrangement  for  the 
bringing  over  of  a  large  quantity  of  goods,  which  were  to  be  smuggled  on  board 
at  Liverpool  and  to  be  got  ashore  at  New  York,  without  reference  to  the  cus- 
toms dues.  It  will  scarcely  be  credited  that  the  agent,  who  is  one  of  the  shrewd- 
est of  the  business  men  of  New  York,  swallowed  this  chaff  without  a  single  grain 
of  allowance  ;  but  he  did.  Dismayed  by  the  prospect  of  having  his  vessels  made 
the  means  of  violating  the  laws,  and  his  fears  already  seeing  ships  and  cargoes 
confiscated  as  a  penalty,  he  asked  what  should  be  done  with  an  earnestness  that 
proved  the  game  of  the  schemer  already  driven  to  cover.  The  detective  was 
fully  prepared  with  an  infallible  preventive,  which  was  of  course  the  employ- 
ment of  himself  and  associates  to  watch  and  thwart  the  smugglers.  The  agei\t 
could  see  no  other  means  of  escaping  the  impending  disaster  at  so  cheap  a  rate  ; 
and  without  the  least  inquiry  as  to  the  character  or  antecedents  of  the  persons  with 
whom  he  was  dealing,  he  concluded  a  bargain  whereby  they  became  regular  em- 
ployees at  high  salaries  with  the  duty  of  voyaging  between  New  York  and  Liver- 
pool on  the  steamers  of  the  company,  for  the  purpose  of  thwartiii;  the  smug- 
gling operations.  They  were  not  the  men  to  allow  a  good  thing  to  pass  away 
from  them  for  lack  of  effort  to  retain  it,  and  they  were  swift  to  furnish  both  the 
agent  on  this  side  and  the  owners  in  Liverpool  with  the  names  of  persons  whom 
they  had  detected  in  the  conspiracy.  Some  of  these  purported  to  be  names  of 
residents  of  Liverpool,  and  others  of  New  York  and  Chicago.  This  game  had 
been  played  for  several  months  when  the  suspicions  of  the  owners  were  aroused, 
and  upon  an  investigation  of  the  facts  so  far  as  it  could  be  had  on  the  other 
side,  they  became  so  doubtful  of  the  good  faith  of  their  employees  as  to  order  the 
New  York  agent  to  thoroughly  sift  their  antecedents.  The  result  was  that  the 
private  detectives  were  themselves  speedily  under  the  espionage  they  pretended 
to  have  established  upon  the  smugglers,  and  were  proved  by  detective  Farley, 
of  the  New  York  police,  to  be  as  unconscionable  liars  as  ever  obtained  money 
by  false  pretences.  Their  story  from  beginning  to  end  was  an  utter  fabrication, 
concocted  for  the  sole  purpose  of  fleecing  the  steamship  company  of  a  first-class 
living  for  many  months,  besides  a  large  sum  in  actual  money. 

Such  cases  as  that  just  related  are  of  course  not  common,  as  the  opportunity 
for  the  display  of  the  peculiar  talent  in  this  peculiar  line  is  seldom  offered.  It 
is,  moreover,  a  branch  which  is  soon  exhausted  ;  but  in  the  line  of  felonies  com- 
pounded there  is  an  unfailing  field  for  exertion.  It  is  difficult,  however,  to  ob- 
tain details  in  any  case,  as  neither  party  to  so  questionable  a  transaction  is  apt 
to  talk  about  it  afterwards.  The  information  at  hand  on  this  point  is  principally 
derived  from  persons  calling  at  police  headquarters  for  aid  in  the  recovery  of 
stolen  property,  about  half  of  whom,  in  response  to  sharp  questioning,  admit  that 
they  have  had  the  matter  in  charge  of  private  detectives,  and  have  been  fleeced. 
In  all  such  cases  money  has  been  paid  down  in  advance,  to  a  quarter  of  the 


6o  THE  NETHER  SIDE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

value  of  the  treasure,  in  return  for  which  the  loser  has  unredeemed  promises  to 
recover  the  property.  In  this  branch  of  the  business  there  is  no  actual  com- 
pounding of  crime,  but  only  a  promise  that  it  shall  be  done;  and  it  is  altogether 
about  the  meanest  work  in  which  private  detectives  engage.  There  are,  how- 
ever, some  cases  of  compounding  felonies,  where  the  facts  are  sufficiently  full 
for  use. 

A  firm  doing  a  heavy  business  in  American  watches  was  startled  one  morn- 
ing by  receiving  a  letter  from  a  private  detective  giving  his  name  and  agency,  in 
which  he  stated  that  he  had  picked  up  the  enclosure  in  the  street,  and  upon  pe- 
rusal finding  it  to  be  of  great  importance  to  the  firm,  had  forwarded  it.  The 
firm,  coming  to  the  enclosure,  read  something  like  this,  dated  at  Elgin,  Illinois  : 

Old  Pal:  I  suppose  that  you  have  wondered  how  I  got  nw.iy  and  where  I  am  things  was  so  hot  I  had 
no  time  to  let  you  know  Before.  I  liave  one  or  two  small  things  out  this  way  and  have  now  the  best  job  I 
have  ever  been  in.  There  is  a  big  watch  movement  factory  here  and  I  have  made  every  thing  with  the 
watciiman  I  have  beat  it  already  for  a  little  but  Im  waiting  for  some  good  pal  to  help  me  clean  it  out  com  on 
and  well  make  a  good  haul.  Snoozer  Bill. 

No  thief  ever  wrote  such  a  letter  as  this  ;  but  no  imposture  is  too  clumsy  to 
answer  its  purpose  when  crime  is  dealing  with  honesty,  and  it  is  not  surprising 
that  the  firm,  seeing  ruin  coming  upon  a  great  enterprise  in  which  they  were 
largely  interested,  because  of  these  hypothetical  burglars,  acted  precisely  as  the 
detective  presumed  they  would,  by  sending  for  him  and  giving  the  case  in  sole 
charge  of  one  who  had  shown  such  disinterested  devotion  to  their  interests. 
Having  thus  received  the  inch  he  was  swift  to  take  the  proverbial  ell,  and  plied 
the  firm  with  other  intercepted  letters  of  Snoozer  Bill,  until  those  nervous  gen- 
tlemen beheld  in  fancy  the  enterprising  marauders  only  prevented  from  carrying 
off  watches,  movements,  factory  and  all,  by  the  adroitness,  persistence,  and 
courage  of  their  private  detective,  who  all  this  time  did  not  neglect  to  make 
them  pay  heavily  for  services  they  rated  as  invaluable.  After  a  time,  but  not 
until  he  believed  the  trick  had  been  exhausted,  the  detective  announced  that  the 
burglars  were  finally  foiled,  and  he  was  dismissed  with  plaudits  and  profit.  It 
is  scarcely  necessary  to  add  that  the  burglars  existed  only  in  his  imagination, 
that  the  letters  were  clumsy  creations  of  his  own,  and  the  whole  affair  from  be- 
ginning to  end  a  device  to  obtain  mone}'. 

The  device  is  a  common  one  with  the  craft,  who  rarely  fail  to  frighten  mer- 
chants out  of  their  senses  and  money  by  warnings  of  thieves  at  their  doors,  or 
intending  to  be  there  in  the  middle  watches  of  some  certain  night  named.  The 
swindle  was  eminently  successful  in  the  case  of  a  large  silk  house  in  Philadel- 
phia, which  was  managed  with  great  skill  by  the  private  detectives.  One  of 
them  went  to  the  house  with  the  story  of  a  conversation  he  had  overheard  in  a 
"  crib,"  during  which  "  Stutter  Jack,"  "  Glimmer  George,"  and  sundry  others 
with  similar  improbable  names,  had  arranged  the  preliminaries  for  "  cracking" 
the  house  on  a  night  then  some  time  in  the  future.  Soon  afterward  another  pri- 
vate detective  called  and  clinched  the  nail  thus  entered,  by  a  story  of  how  he 
had  crept  unseen  into  the  pawnshop  of  a  notorious  "  fence,"  and  had  overheard 
that  desperate  Stutter  Jack  arranging  with  the  "fence"  to  receive  the  "swag" 
they  were  to  get  from  the  silk  house.  He  was  even  prepared  to  descend  into 
details,  and  recounted  the  exact  number  and  style  of  pieces  of  silk  which  were 
to  be  stolen  and  delivered,  and  the  precise  proportion  of  the  proceeds  which 
thieves  and  receiver  were  to  get.  The  precision  and  fulness  of  the  information 
thus  obtained,  apparently  from  separate  sources,  was  convincing,  and  the  mer- 
chants, in  a  tremor  of  fear,  fulfilled  the  expectations  of  the  informers  by  calling 


PRIVATE  DETECTIVES.  6i 

upon  them  to  devise  ways  and  means  to  thwart  the  burglarious  schemes,  not 
omitting  of  course  to  pay  handsomely  for  services  rendered  and  expected.  It  is 
to  the  credit  of  these  skilful  operators  that  they  did  not  rest  from  their  labors 
with  the  receipt  of  all  they  expected  to  make  out  of  the  transaction,  but  laid  the 
foundation  for  similar  operations  in  the  future  by  actually  planning  a  bogus  bur- 
glary and  attempting  to  commit  it  by  confederates  at  the  appointed  time,  who 
were  of  course  frightened  away  by  the  preparations  made  to  receive  them. 

There  is  one  other  case  to  be  related  where  the  effort  of  the  private  detec- 
tive to  put  money  in  his  pocket  at  the  expense  of  society  was  lamentably  suc- 
cessful. A  gentleman  who  had  the  misfortune  to  lose  $5,000  in  United  States 
bonds  by  means  of  a  sneak  robbery,  next  encountered  the  greater  mishap  of  be- 
ing directed  to  a  detective  agency  for  the  recovery  of  his  property.  It  is  but 
just  to  his  common  sense  to  explain  that  this  new  disaster  sought  him,  not  he 
the  disaster  ;  for  his  loss  being  proclaimed  in  the  newspapers,  the  private  de- 
tectives pursued  him  with  ravenous  celerity,  and  by  ingenious  reasoning  soon 
convinced  him  that  the  chances  of  his  ever  seeing  any  of  his  bonds  again  were 
remarkably  slight  in  every  way,  except  through  the  exertions  of  the  detective, 
who  had  no  doubt  that  he  could  secure  the  return  of  the  property  at  a  sacrifice 
of  half  its  value.  He  did  not  state  in  so  many  words  that  he  knew  who  had 
stolen  the  bonds  and  then  had  them  in  possession,  but  he  strongly  implied  that 
such  was  the  case,  as  a  proof  of  his  ability  to  perform  as  he  had  promised.  At 
the  first  interview  nothing  was  concluded,  but  the  persistent  detective  returned 
again  and  again  to  the  charge,  and  his  terms  were  finally  allowed.  His  league 
with  the  thieves  was  immediately  made  manifest  by  his  prompt  appearance  with 
the  stolen  property,  which  was  returned  to  the  owner  upon  the  payment  of  the 
stipulated  price. 

It  would  be  pleasant  to  know  the  exact  number  of  these  harpies  who  are 
feeding  upon  the  community,  so  that  each  of  us  might  approximate  his  chances 
of  escaping  the  surreptitious  consumption  of  his  substance  ;  but  there  are,  un- 
fortunately, no  data  for  making  more  than  a  rough  estimate.  In  the  city  of  New 
York  there  are  a  dozen  of  these  "agencies,"  some  of  which  are  of  limited  capa- 
city, and  the  several  partners  comprise  the  entire  working  force  ;  but  others  are 
of  colossal  proportions,  employing  large  numbers  of  '^shadows,"  either  casually 
or  permanently.  Other  cities  are  equally  well  furnished  ;  but  such  centres  of 
commercial  activity  as  New  York  and  Chicago  seem  to  be  the  chosen  resorts  of 
this  particular  species  of  birds  of  prey.  In  addition  to  these  regulars,  there  are 
numerous  guerillas,  who  are  by  far  the  most  dangerous,  because  the  most  un- 
scrupulous and  needy.  The  regular  "shadow"  has  generally  a  stated  salary  to 
depend  on,  and,  appearing  as  he  does  in  the  name  of  his  employer,  has  some 
little  check  upon  his  actions.  Appearances  must  at  least  be  saved,  and  the 
agency  which  seeks  publicity  as  the  basis  of  a  prosperous  business,  cannot  afford 
those  more  flagrant  operations  which  have  made  the  term  of  private  detective  a 
synonyme  for  rogue.  On  the  other  hand,  the  guerilla  is  always  penniless  and 
has  nothing  in  the  way  of  character  to  lose,  so  that  he  is  constantly  pushed  by 
his  necessities  to  all  sorts  of  desperate  devices,  and  is  unrestrained  in  his  pur- 
suit and  plucking  of  his  prey  by  any  moral  considerations.  But  for  his  dread 
of  the  penalties  of  the  law,  he  would  be  a  thief  outright. 

It  must  not  be  supposed,  from  the  general  tenor  of  this  article,  or  from  the 
incidents  related,  that  private  detectives  are  all  utterly  base.  There  are  proliably 
some  of  them  who  endeavor  to  pursue  their  calling  with  all  possible  honesty  : 
but  it  is  difficult  to  deny  that  as  an  institution  they  are  wholly  unnecessary  and 


62  THE  NETHER  SIDE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

evil  in  their  influence.  The  little  legitimate  detective  duty  they  do  would  be 
much  more  likely  to  be  justly  and  well  done  by  the  regular  officers  of  the  law. 
The  tracking  of  a  criminal  for  gain  by  a  person  unauthorized  to  arrest  him  when 
found,  breeds  indifference  to  the  demands  and  forms  of  law,  which  is  calculated 
to  breed  contempt  for  the  law  itself,  and  thus  lead  to  the  serious  demoralization 
of  the  community  which  permits  it.  In  all  other  branches  of  their  business  the 
private  detectives  cannot  help  working  evil,  for  they  lead  directly  and  despite 
them  to  false  witness  and  all  kinds  of  abominations. 

The  interests  of  society  plainly  demand  the  suppression  of  this  peculiar  in- 
dustry, and  it  can  be  suppressed  by  nothing  but  lack  of  patronage.  Every  one, 
therefore,  who  feels  an  impulse  to  pander  to  his  greed  by  means  of  this  appli- 
ance, owes  it  to  the  general  good  to  think  twice  before  employing  a  private 
detective. 


"CIRCULAR"   SWINDLERS. 


THERE  are  a  dozen  adroit  rascals  in  New  York  who  do  a  prosperous  busU 
ness  by  acting  upon  the  principle  that  a  large  share  of  the  people  only 
need  motive  and  opportunity  to  become  knaves.  Of  course  these  roguish  cynics 
offer  the  coveted  chance  with  the  end  of  making  fools  instead  of  knaves  of  the 
thousands  of  people  in  all  parts  of  the  country  who  listen  to  their  allurements. 

No  fraud  is  more  transparent,  successful,  universal  in  its  ramifications,  or 
corrupting  in  its  influence,  than  that  known,  for  want  of  a  better  name,  as  the 
circular  swindle.  Worked  from  obscure  garrets  and  cellars  in  New  York,  it 
reaches  every  town  and  hamlet  in  the  Union,  to  rob  the  credulous  and  tempt  the 
weak-principled  into  crime.  And  no  fraud  ever  made  more  rapid  but  less  un- 
natural progress.  Based  upon  a  scoundrelly  belief  in  the  fact  that  very  many 
men  are  in  too  great  haste  to  be  rich  to  scrutinize  the  means  by  which  the  end  shall 
be  obtained,  it  was  not  long  satisfied  with  the  various  mean  devices  to  which  it 
first  had  resort,  but  speedily  reached  perfection  in  this  form  (I  print  from  a 
very  well  executed  lithographic  letter,  which  many  a  simpleton  undoubtedly  takes 
to  be  a  written  letter  prepared  for  him  exclusively) : 

New  York  March  1871. 

Dear  Sir  ;  We  wish  to  secure  the  services  of  a  smart  and  intelligent  Agent  in  your  locality  for  a  busiiiess, 
that  cannot  fall  to  yield  (without  much  effort)  at  least,  a  profit  of  $10,000  per  year  and  if  shrewdly  managed,  will 
return  a  much  larger  amount,  and  this  too,  without  neglecting  your  regular  business.  We  have  been  constantly 
tngaged  for  several  months  past,  in  preparing  Platesof  the  $1,  *i,  $;,  $10  U.  S.  Greenbacks,  having  completed 
them,  we  are  now  prepared  to  furnish  the  bills,  of  the  different  denominations,  in  any  quantity  desired,  above 
$500.  these  are  without  any  exception,  the  finest  executed  bills,  that  were  ever  issued  in  this  Country  and 
cannot  be  detected,  even  by  the  oldest  experts,  they  are  correctly  numbered,  tJie  engraving  cannot  be  ex- 
celled, in  fact,  no  expense  or  labor  has  been  spared,  to  bring  the  best  talent  the  country  could  produce  in 
the  art  of  the  engraving  and  printing,  to  make  our  issues,  exactly  like  the  originals,  thus  rendering  it,  just  as 
safe  for  you  to  pass  them,  as  if  they  came  from  the  "Treasury  Department.^'  We  have  them  put  up  in  pack- 
ages of  ^500,  $1,000  $5,000,  and  $10,000.  On  account  of  the  superior  excellence  of  these  bills,  as  well  as  the 
large  expense  in  bringing  them  to  perfection,  we  shall  charge  you.  25  cts.  on  the  dollar  for  them,  but  in  order 
fairly  to  start  you  and  to  show  that  we  "  mean  business"  we  will  send  you  a  package  charging  you  only 
5  cts.  on  the  dollar,  provided  you  will  pay  the  balance  (20  cts.  on  the  dollar)  within  15  Days  of  receiving  the 
package.  You  will  be  required  to  meet  your  bills  promptly.  The  first  cost  to  you  will  be  $25  for  $500, 
$50  for  f  1,000,  $100  for  $2,000,  $250  for  $5000,  and  I500  for  $10,000.  When  you  order,  be  very  particular  to 
send yeiir  letter  by  Express,  for  positively  we  will  not  fill  an  order,  that  reaches  us  through  the  Post  Office, 
we  have  lost  large  amounts  that  have  been  forwarded  this  way  and  we  will  run  no  risk  hereafter. 

The  Express  is  sure,  safe  and  expeditious  and  the  money  forwarded  through  it,  is  at  our  risk.  Seal 
your  order,  as  you  do  any  letter  and  mark  outside,  in  large  figures,  Value  $500  and  it  will  then  be  received 
and  forwarded  by  the  Express  Co.  It  is  always  best,  to  have  a  "  Cash  remittance"  accompany  your  order, 
thus  showing  good  faith  on  your  part.  Be  very  careful  to  distinctly  state,  the  amount  jnd  denominations 
you  wish,  also  your  name  and  Post  Office,  with  the  County  and  State  plainly  atui  clearly  written.  You  are 
one  of  three  persons,  in  your  State  that  we  addressed,  and  with  these  bills  so  artistically  executed,  and  the 
facilities  we  will  give  you,  you  are  started  at  once,  upon  tlie  highway,  to  fortuTu,  and  affluence.  You  can 
rest  assured  of  one  thing,  that  you  can  never  be  ivanting  (or  /unds,  while  you  are  connected  with  us,  and  re- 
tnain  true.  On  receipt  of  your  order,  we  immediately  write  through  the  P.  Office  to  your  address  stating 
the  day  we  ship  your  package,  and  you  will  always  call  there  before  going  to  the  Express.  The  package  is 
made  up  in  such  a  way,  that  no  one  would  ever  suspect  its  nature.  A  personal  interview  is  always  desirable, 
and  would  better  suit  us,  and  might  be  to  our  mutual  advantage  as  you  could  then  examined  the  money  for 
yourself,  and  judge  its  quality,  and  the  amount  you  would  require. 

Fraternally  Yours. 

Jas.  p.  Baker  &  Co. 
No.  150  Broadway  N.  Y.  City. 

P.  S.  We  received  so  many  letters ;  asking  for  samples,  that  we  have  concluded  we  will,  on  receipt  of 
I5.00  by  Express  ;  send  sample  of  our  issue.  We  have  also  fractional  currency  in  10  c.  15  c.  25  c.  and  50  c 
ienominatious  ;  fully  up  to  our  standard  of  Bills.     Prompt  attention  and/air  dealing  guaranteed. 


64  THE  NETHER  SIDE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

No  one  of  these  knaves  is  so  poor  as  to  have  but  one  name  ;  and  besides  being 
James  P.  Baker  &  Co.,  tliis  fellow  is  B.  B.  Walker  &;  Co.,  206  Broadway  ;  but  he 
is  poor  indeed  compared  with  some  of  his  comrades,  one  of  whom  be<;ins'his 
lithographic  letters  thus  : 

Dear  Friend:  While  conversing  with  a  gentleman  from  your  locality  recently,  you  were  named  as  a 
shrewd  and  reliable  person  and  one  likely  to  enter  into  a  business,  the  nature  of  which  will  be  explained  in 
this  letter.  At  all  events,  he  said,  whether  you  go  in  or  not,  you  would  keep  a  still  tongue,  and  would  not 
expose  me.  He  told  me  that  under  no  circumstances  must  I  inform  you  who  recommended  you  ;  and  as  I 
claim  to  be  a  man  of  honor,  I  will  never  violate  a  pledge-  I  have  on  hand,  and  am  constantly  manufactur- 
ing large  quantities  of  the  best  counterfeit  money  ever  produced,  in  the  world. 

There  are  five  undivided  parts  of  this  sensitive  man  of  honor,  which  are 
labelled  respectively  John  F.  Hamilton,  No.  212  Broadway;  Wm.  J.  Ferguson, 
194  Broadway  ;  Robert  H.  Holland,  142  Fulton  street ,  Thomas  W.  Price,  89 
Nassau  street ;  and  Wm.  B.  Loojan,  15  Dutch  street.  Under  each  name  he  ofters 
perfect  counterfeits  of  the  $2,  $5,  and  $10  bills  and  50  cent  stamps  in  unlimited 
quantities,  and  burdens  his  circular  with  constant  reiterations  that  he  is  a  man 
of  honor  an.xious  to  deal  on  the  square  with  his  customers. 

Another  of  the  knaves  starts  out  in  this  fashion  : 

BELL  &  SON, 

37  Nassau  Street,  New  York. 
My  Dear  Sir  :  We  wish  to  secure  the  services  of  a  live  gentleman  to  push  the  business  named  in  the 
enclosed  circular,  and  have  been  informed  by  a  friend  who  knows  you  well  that  you  are  highly  suitable  to  rep- 
resent us.  As  we  have  had  many  dealings  with  that  gentleman  and  know  him  to  be  an  upright  and  honora- 
ble man,  any  friend  of  his  will  receive  our  utmost  confidence,  we  therefore  feel  that  there  is  no  risk  in  confid- 
ing to  you  our  secret. 

In  this  particular  case  he  won't  require  cash  in  advance,  and  after  making 
several  alluring  propositions,  he  winds  up  thus  : 

We  know  you  will  serve  us  faithfully  and  truly.  You  cannot  afford  to  deceive  us.  State  the  amount  and 
denominations  requ'red.  When  you  send  the  money  p/ease  /•ay  the  Express  charges  and  deduct  the  amount 
from  the  priccipal  to  pay  same.  Whatever  you  do,  don't  write  by  mail,  as  we  will  not  claim  or  receive  any 
letters  from  the  post  office.     Send  only  by  ex  pi  ess  prepaid ! 

Awaiting  your  early  reply, 

We  are,  yours  fraternally 

Bell  &  Son. 
KF"  Take  notice  that  by  remitting  $2$  to  us  by  express  and  ordering  a  $2,500  package  you  will  secure 
the  agency  for  your  State. 

Please  return  this  letter  to  remind  vs. 

This  gentleman  is  contented  to  do  business  with  only  the  additional  names 
of  King  &  Co.,  39  Nassau  street ;  Owen  Brothers,  58  Liberty  street ;  and  Williams 
&  Co.,  196  Broadway. 

Another  operator,  also  capable  of  subdivision,  is  the  one  who  throws  his  hook 

thus  baited  : 

Esteemed  Friend:  Being  in  want  of  a  reliable  agent  in  your  .State  I  have  selected  j'ou  in  preference  to 
many  others,  in  consequence  of  your  being  recommended  to  me  by  a  gentleman  of  this  city,  whose  business  it 
is  to  drum  up  trade  in  the  country  for  a  large  commercial  house.  I  already  have  5  agents  at  different  points  ; 
but  desiring  to  push  my  business  for  the  season  I  have  resolved  to  employ  one  or  two  more.  I  have  novir  on 
hand  about  ?5o,ooo  in  counterfeit  ?2,  $5,  and  ?io  bills.  I  might  as  well  represent  them  as  genuine,  for  it 
would  require  an  expert  banker  to  distinguish  them  from  the  notes  issued  at  Washington.  They  are  printed 
on  first  class  bank  note  paper,  are  of  the  same  size  as  the  genuine,  and  are  correctly  numbered.  The  printing 
is  incomparable.     I  would  not  for  the  world  send  out  a  bill  that  is  badly  printed. 

He  gives  much  excellent  advice  to  his  gudgeon  to  the  effect  that  "When  you 
get  the  bills  ruffle  them  as  1o  make  them  look  old.  Don't  pass  too  much  on  one 
man  at  a  time.  Put  a  private  marke  on  the  bills,  so  that,  should  they  come  back 
to  you  in  the  course  of  trade,  you  will  know  them.  You  can  carry  as  much  aljout 
you  as  you  like,  but  do  not  exibit  too  much.  If  you  follow  these  instructions  I 
guarantee  that  you  will  clear  a  large  sum  of  good  money  in  a  short  time.     En- 


"CIRCULAR"    SWIxNDLERS.  65 

deavor  to  send  all  communications  by  Express.  Do  not  under  any  circumstances 
send  me  a  letter  by  mail."  This  man  of  careful  business  habits  is  variously 
known  as  Joseph  R.  Lee,  82  Nassau  street;  Horace  Madden,  10  Chatham 
street ;  George  Sommers,  30  Chatham  street ;  Edward  F.  Dickinson,  36  Mai- 
den Lane  ;  and  John  B.  Forrest,  30  Liberty  street. 

In  addition  to  these  operators  doing  business  under  several  names,  there  are 
a  few  who,  having  not  yet  risen  to  this  preeminence,  are  content  to  swindle  by  a 
single  cognomen.  Among  them  is  S.  Y.  Adando  &  Co.,  No.  60  Park  Place, 
whose  lithographic  letter,  covering  three  large  pages,  sets  forth  the  manifold  ex- 
cellences of  his  wares  and  the  extreme  reasonableness  of  his  rates.  He,  too, 
is  "a  man  of  honor,"  trusting  to  the  "honesty"  of  his  correspondent,  and  man- 
ifests in  an  extraordinary  degree  that  wholesome  dread  of  the  post-office,  and 
great  solicitude  that  money  shall  be  sent  only  by  express,  which  is  prominent  in 
the  epistles  of  all  the  swindlers.  C.  E.  Benson  &  Co.,  No.  176  Broadway,  is  a 
shrewder  knave  than  some  of  the  others  in  many  respects,  for  he  boldly  puts  his 
letter  into  type  and  baits  his  hook  for  the  most  foolish  of  very  tiny  gudgeons. 
After  offering  a  package  of  $500  for  $25,  a  package  of  $1,000  for  $40,  and  one  of 
$5,000  for  $200,  he  says  : 

On  receipt  of  price  in  registered  letter  for  either  of  these  packages,  we  will  send  the  goods  by  mail  in  re- 
gistered package  which  is  the  only  safe  way  hy  mafl,  as  there  is  then  no  cause  for  fear  whatever,  or  we  will 
safely  pack  either  size  package  and  send  by  express,  C.  O.  D.  on  receipt  of  a  deposit  of  $2  for  No.  i  Package, 
$^  for  No.  2  Package,  or  §3  for  No.  3  Package,  the  balance  to  be  paid  on  receipt  of  package,  and  mark  them 
in  such  a  way  that  no  one  will  suspect  or  know  but  ourselves.  We  will  give  any  information  desired  of  us  at 
any  time,  but  we  suppose  any  one  knows  what  to  do  with  money  when  they  get  it. 

"William  Cooper  &  Co.,"  who  styles  himself  "dealers  in  fine  stationery,  688 
Broadway,"  has  devised  yet  another  method  by  having  all  of  his  thousands  of 
circulars  actually  written  by  hand,  in  which  work,  up  to  the  time  he,  or  rather 
his  business,  suddenly  came  to  grief,  he  had  eight  men  constantly  employed,  and 
had  so  drilled  them  that  there  was  no  perceptible  difference  in  the  chirography 
of  his  missives.  He  also  enclosed  a  printed  circular,  with  the  assertion  that 
very  few  are  to  be  issued,  which  he  begins  with  this  alluring  scrap  of  secret  his- 
tory : 

When  Congress  authonzed  the  present  issue  of  greenbacks,  the  Treasury  Department  executed  plates  of 
enonnous  cost  and  wonderful  workmanship,  from  which  the  whole  amount  of  currency  authorized  by  Con- 
gress was  to  be  printed,  and  it  was  ordered  at  the  time,  that  as  soon  as  the  whole  amount  had  been  printed 
the  plates,  some  loo  in  number,  should  be  taken  from  the  Treasury  Printing  Department,  conveyed  to  the 
Na%'y-yard  and  melted.  Now  it  so  happened  that  the  plates  from  which  the  i,  2,  and  5  dollar  bills  had  been 
printed  were  not  destroyed.  How  it  was  brought  about,  we,  as  a  matter  of  prudence,  do  not  state.  It  is 
enough  to  know  that  the  plates  are  still  preserved  uninjured,  and  we  trust  their  whereabouts  will  never  be 
Known  except  to  us. 

He  then  proceeds  to  offer  at  fabulously  low  rates  money  in  any  desired 
quantity,  surreptitiously  printed  from  these  plates  so  miraculously  saved  from 
the  fire.  "  Rufus  Stockton,  stationer,  wood,  steel,  and  copper  engraver,"  204 
Broadway,  is  the  pioneer  title  in  this  fraud,  but  now  is  so  seldom  seen  as  to  be 
unworthy  of  further  notice. 

H.  Colter  &  Co.,  195  Broadway,  also  does  business  in  the  usual  way  and  on 
{I  small  scale.  Last,  but  by  no  means  least,  is  a  rascal  who  is  aware  of  the  ras- 
cality of  the  other  fellows,  and  advises  his  dupes  of  the  fact  thus  : 

Express  all  your  money         )  McNally  &  Co. 

to  this  address.  )  229  Broadway 

Dear  Sir  :  You  no  doubt  have  some  reluctance  in  engaging  with  ns,  perhaps  you  already  have  received 
fi-om  different  parties  in  New  York,  who  represent  things  highly  colored,  with  a  great  mixture  of  flattery,  in 
respect  to  the  goods  they  desire  to  dispose  o^  and  their  extreme  cheapness,  they  imaccountably  got  hold  of 


66  THE  NETHER  SIDE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

the  way  we  do  business,  and  as  near  as  possible  thej'  try  to  imitate  us ;  they  are  flooding  the  country  with  cit^ 
culars,  receiving  money  and  sending  nothing  in  return ;  you  can  see  for  yourselves,  how  can  any  one  seH 
$i,ooo  wonh  of  the  goods  for$io?  Tliey  can't  do  it,  and  more,  they  don't  do  it.  "We  have  letters  every  day 
from  parties  they  have  gulled  and  caught.  Now  of  two  evils  you  can  choose  the  least,  we  have  goods  that  no 
one  ever  has,  so  far,  found  fault  with.  Remember,  we  do  this  business  with  two  names.  One  to  write  to 
and  one  to  express  all  money  to  ;  make  no  mistake  in  addressing  us  if  you  desire  to  do  business  and  yourself 
justice.     Address  by  "  mail "  your  letters  to 

P.  Mavborn  &  Co.,  Box  216  Jersey  City,  N.  J. 

Thus  far  I  have  used  my  space  to  present  all  the  names  under  which  this 
knavery  is  perpetrated,  with  enough  of  the  distinguishing  traits  of  each  of  the 
circulars  to  prevent  all  but  those  absolutely  bent  on  being  robbed  from  obeying 
the  order  of  the  last  quoted,  and  expressing  all  their  money  to  these  rogues.  It 
must  next  be  shown  how  it  is  that  these  men  can  flood  the  country  with  these 
demoralizing  circulars  with  entire  safety.  This  explanation  involves  an  exposd 
of  a  fraud  which  is  so  transparent  that  this  exposure  ought  to  be  unnecessary. 
Were  there  a  little  more  sense  and  honesty  in  the  people  at  large,  it  would  be 
sufficient  to  say  that  these  circulars  are  self-evident  lies  ;  but  this  not  being  the 
case,  it  must  be  shown  that  these  men  really  do  not  deal  in  counterfeit  money. 
In  that  simple  fact  is  not  only  their  immunity  but  their  profit.  To  produce  an 
imitation  of  the  United  States  currency  sufficiently  exact  to  have  a  ready  circu- 
lation is  an  operation  not  only  requiring  the  expenditure  of  much  time,  labor, 
skill,  and  money,  but  involving  more  risk  of  punishment  than  most  men  care  to 
assume.  These  Cheap  Johns  of  villany  have  therefore  hit  upon  an  expedient 
which  demands  no  skill,  little  labor,  and  less  money,  besides  being  perfectly  unob- 
noxious  to  any  crimes  act  which  ever  has  been  or  perhaps  ever  can  be  devised. 
When  these  knaves  first  began  they  conducted  their  business  exclusively 
through  the  post-office,  and  at  that  time  they  were  as  grimly  jocose  with  their 
dupes  as  now,  for  they  sent  as  the  "counterfeits"  the  small  photographic  cards 
of  the  greenbacks  lately  so  common,  and  which  could  be  bought  in  unlimited 
quantities  for  a  fraction  of  a  penny  each.  But  the  United  States  Government 
speedily  tired  of  being  partner  to  this  fraud,  and  without  much  law  to  back  it  up, 
but  with  great  moral  and  popular  justification,  it  seized  the  letters  coming  to  the 
New  York  post-office  for  the  counterfeit  men,  and  returned  the  money  contained 
in  them  to  the  senders.  But  in  the  ,end  the  only  effect  of  this  well-meant  and 
resolute  attempt  to  break  up  the  swindle  was  to  put  the  schemers  to  the  trouble 
and  expense  of  getting  up  new  lithographs,  which  bristle  with  such  phrases  as 
this  : 

E^^DO^'T  \rRITE  KV  OTAII.,  SEND  ONLY  BV  EXPRESS, 
CHARGES  PREPAIB.  "^SM. 

Their  own  letters,  of  course,  went  by  mail  as  before,  and  being  in  plain  en- 
velopes were  unknown  and  unchecked.  By  the  aid  of  directories,  commercial 
lists,  and  advertisements  in  newspapers,  they  obtained  lists  of  names  of  persons 
in  all  the  important  cities  and  towns,  while  by  some  means  those  of  men  un- 
known beyond  the  narrow  confines  of  obscure  hamlets  were  also  on  their  lists. 
It  was  this  part  of  their  scheme  which  involved  the  most  labor  and  adroitness, 
for  having  obtained  their  lists  they  had  nothing  to  do  but  mail  their  lithographs 
and  sit  down  with  their  pockets  wide  open  to  catch  the  golden  reflux. 

It  is  impossible  to  say  what  proportion  of  the  hundreds  of  thousands  of  cir- 
culars they  issued  had  the  desired  effect.  Some  of  the  recipients  tossed  them 
contemptuously  away,  others  were  indignant  and  instantly  mailed  tliem  to  the 
New  York  Superintendent  of  Police,  with  the  idea  that  they  were  putting  him 
on  the  trail  of  a  hitherto  unknown  villany,  and  demanding  in  most  peremptory 
terms  the  instant  incarceration  of  the  scoundrels  who  had  dared  to  tempt  them. 
But  many  read  in  secret,  as  commanded,  and  permitted  the  golden  vision  thius 


"CIRCULAR"    SWINDLERS.  67 

skilfully  raised  to  shut  out  reason  and  conscience  until  they  at  last  ventured  a 
little  way  into  the  new  El  Dorado  by  sending  for  the  smallest  quantity  of  bogus 
money  mentioned  in  the  circular.  In  the  early  days  of  the  fraud,  when  the  post- 
office  was  the  medium  of  communication  between  two  knaves,  the  victim  knave 
sent  his  good  money  after  the  bad  and  waited  impatiently  for  the  receipt  of  his 
purchase;  and  he  still  waits,  for  the  circular  swindler  could  write  letters,  but  he 
made  it  a  rule  never  to  reply  to  any.  Since  the  closing  of  the  mails  against  the 
business  the  metropolitan  outlaw  has  still  remained  superior  to  fate  and  his  bu- 
colic brother.  The  business  being  done  by  express,  two  methods  are  adopted, 
the  first  being  for  the  victim  to  send  his  money  with  his  order  as  before,  in  which 
case  he  gets  precisely  what  he  did  in  the  mail  days.  But  the  more  seductive 
and  general  way  is  to  have  the  order  come  unaccompanied  by  any  money,  where- 
upon the  "queer"  is  "forwarded  C.  O.  D.  by  express,  packed  in  small  boxes  so 
as  to  defy  detection."  Every  business  man  can  see  without  further  explanation 
how  easily  the  fraud  is  managed.  The  box  is  duly  sent,  and  on  this  point  the 
operators  fully  deserve  all  their  encomiums  on  themselves  for  promptitude. 
When  it  arrives  at  its  destination  the  intending  knave,  who  has  already  cast  up 
a  thousand  times  the  profits  he  is  to  secure  by  cheating  his  friends  and  neigh- 
bors, is  equally  prompt  to  demand  it,  and  of  course  must  pay  all  charges,  includ- 
ing the  price  of  the  "  queer,"  before  delivery.  Having  obtained  his  treasure,  he 
steals  off  to  a  secret  place  to  examine  it,  having  done  which  he  finds  he  is  the 
possessor  of  a  small  and  exceedingly  flimsy  box  filled  with  saw-dust  and  little 
scraps  of  old  iron,  to  give  weight,  the  whole  thing  worth  upon  a  liberal  calcula- 
tion perhaps  a  small  fraction  of  a  cent.  The  remainder  of  his  natural  life  will 
probably  be  spent  in  pouring  forth  silent  anathemas  upon  the  knaves  who  have 
outwitted  him.  But  he  must  take  very  good  care  that  his  wrath  is  silent,  for 
there  never  comes  a  moment  when  he  can  bleat  his  sorrows  in  the  public  ear. 
He  may  be  as  stupid  a  dolt  as  ever  fell  prey  to  the  sharper,  but  yet  has  sense 
enough  to  know  that  his  is  only  a  case  of  the  biter  very  savagely  bitten,  and  that 
so  far  as  intention  is  concerned  he  is  many  degrees  more  depraved  than  his  city 
confederate.  His  mind  was  fully  made  up  to  do  all  in  his  power  to  commit  the 
meanest  of  all  crimes,  by  uttering  counterfeit  money  ;  whereas  the  city  rascal  had 
never  intended  to  do  anything  more  or  worse  than  swindle  the  scoundrel  who  in- 
tended to  commit  that  mean  offence.  He  knows  further,  that  for  Mm  to  ask  the 
return  of  his  money  from  the  tempter  is  only  to  subject  himself  to  derision,  for 
he  can  make  no  legal  demand,  and  these  fellows  have  never  been  known  to  make 
any  restitution  except  upon  the  urgent  solicitation  of  a  sheriff  or  marshal. 
Therefore  the  poor  bitten  rogue  must  nurse  his  anguish  in  secret ;  his  money 
has  gone  to  the  dogs,  and  he  has  only  to  mention  the  fact  to  throw  his  reputa- 
tion after  it.  « 

An  average  of  fifty  of  these  circulars  are  returned  every  day  to  Superintend- 
ent Kelso,  as  they  had  been  for  m.any  months  to  his  predecessors  in  officei. 
They  come  from  all  parts  of  the  Union,  and  in  nearly  every  case  the  sender, 
supposing  he  is  dealing  with  a  fraud  which  is  what  it  purports  to  be,  believes 
that  he  is  giving  the  first  clue  to  a  nest  of  counterfeiters  which  is  invaluable  to 
the  authorities.  Every  writer  calls  upon  the  Superintendent  in  the  most  positive 
terms  to  stop  the  villany  and  punish  the  villains  ;  some  even  going  to  the 
length  of  advising  how  they  may  be  discovered  and  entrapped  by  the  law. 
Very  many  receive  the  assertions  of  the  circulars  as  literal  trqth,  and  some  are 
indignant  thereat,  like  the  gentleman  who  writes  this: 

luKA,  Miss.  Dec.  7. 
Dear  Sir;  I  do  not  feel  complimented  by  this  fellow's  confidence  in  the  judgment  of  my  "fHend."     I'll 


68  THE  NETHER  SIDE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

wet  my  friend  if  I  learn  who  it  was  who  recommended  me  to  these  scamps.  I  am  very  little  sorry  for  the 
other  scamps  who  bite  at  these  offers.  Still,  as  this  fellow  says,  "fraternally,"  I  would  be  glad  to  know 
they — Bell  &  Son,  the  unsurpassed  rascals — were  pecking  stone  at  Sing  Sing  or  Albany.  And  "fra- 
ternally "  as  tradition  teaches  some  of  us  the  words  have  been  used  since  Hiram  Abiff  transferred  the  cedars 
of  Lebanon  to  Jerusalem,  I  would  ask  your  assistance  in  looking  up  and  lacking  up  Bell  &  Son. 

Another  is  solemnly  illiterate,  but  equally  in  earnest  in  this  fashion : 

Stat  of  Ielenoes 
to  de  anrerale  attorete  of  de  sate  of  New  York  en  cloneng  som  latters  wats  i  font  Pleis  do  yur  doutey  and 
Grab  ob  saus  delings  wee  Poaybel  aeutwest  dont  want  no  conterfeit  monny  out  here 

YURS  TRRLY 

A  resident  of  the  town  of  Mojiticello,  Iowa,  writes  :  "  If  you  can  get  this  fel- 
low Please  hang  him  without  the  form  of  Trial,  he  has  sent  some  200  of  these 
things  to  this  Town  within  the  last  week  of  course  some  will  be  duped." 

A  gentleman  living  at  Weston,  l\Io.,  endorses  a  Pierce  circular  thus  :  "  This 
infamous  communication  has  just  been  received  by  me,  and  while  I  have  no 
hopes  of  your  being  able  to  detect  the  scoundrel,  you  may  be  able  to  give  him 
some  trouble,  and  I  hope  that  you  will  use  it  for  that  purpose.  Such  infamous 
things  are  calculated  to  cause  many  inocent  persons  trouble.  Please  look  after 
him." 

From  Yazoo  county.  Miss.,  Mr.  Kelso  had  this  :  "  Inclosed  )'ou  will  find  a 
circular  from  some  rascal  in  your  city.  This  is  only  one  of  the  many  thousands 
that  they  are  now  flooding  the  South  with,  several  of  my  neighbors  having  received 
similar  ones.  If  you  could  make  any  use  of  this  in  ferreting  out  these  scoundrels 
I  should  feel  that  I  had  done  a  good  deed." 

Thousands  of  such  letters  have  been  received  at  police  headquarters,  but 
very  few  like  this,  written  upon  the  blank  space  of  a  Pierce  circular  sent  to  a 
gentleman  of  Memphis,  Tenn. : 

Respectfully  refered  to  Mr.  Kelso  \\'ith  the  suggestion  that  he  grasp  the  opportunity  herein  offered  of 
making  the  20,000  in  a  year,  as  you  can  retain  your  position  and  slide  off  the  "  queer  "  with  all  possible  ease. 
Mr.  P.  was  mistaken  in  his  offering  me  his  magnificent  offer  for  I  have  got  money  enough  widiout  going  in 
to  this  arrangement:  still,  however,  chances  like  this  to  make  fortunes  should  not  slip,  and  although  I  have 
not  the  pleasure  of  your  personal  acquaintance,  still  your  reputation  is  known  and  admired  by  me,  and  I 
therefore  freely  bestow  this  fortune  of  20,000  on  you,  hoping  you  will  bear  your  honors  gracefully.  I  sincerely 
hope  you  will  accept  this  for  it  is  given  freely,  and  myheart  goes  with  the  gift,  and  then  it  is  a  pity  for  the 
money  to  leave  the  State. 

t 

All  of  these  letters  returning  circulars  go  at  once  to  the  waste-basket  at  Mr. 
Kelso's  feet,  for  the  reason  that  none  of  them  are  of  the  slightest  use  and  tell 
him  nothing  that  he  did  not  already  know.  In  fact,  every  intelligent  police  offi- 
cer in  New  York  has  long  known  all  about  these  swindlers,  except  how  to  baffle 
them.  Their  names  and  haunts  are  matters  of  police  record  ;  but  Kelso,  like 
Kennedy  and  Jourdan  before  him,  is  powerless  to  interfere  with  them.  They 
offer  indeed  to  commit  a  crime,  but  really  commit  none  except  that  of  obtaining 
money  by  trick  and  device ;  but  no  one  can  afford  to  come  forward  and  prove  it, 
so  they  are  entirely  safe.  They  absolutely  refuse  to  do  business  except  by  ex- 
press, and  therefore  the  extreme  but  eflf'ective  method  of  placing  policemen  be- 
fore their  doors  to  warn  away  the  unwary  cannot  be  adopted  in  their  case,  as  it 
has  been  in  those  of  mock-auctions,  panel-houses,  and  places  of  similar  peril. 
The  United  States  are  equally  powerless  to  interfere  ;  for  it  is  perfectly  well 
known  these  fellows  have  no  counterfeit  money,  and  their  arrest  would  only  be 
time  and  trouble  thrown  away.  There  is  no  case  upon  record  where  any  of 
these  knaves  were  brought  to  justice  ;  but  there  is  one  where  poor  hirelings  who 
had  no  general  interest  in  the  fraud  beyond  their  small  salaries  as  clerks  were 


"CIRCULAR"   SWINDLERS.  69 

visited  by  the  penalties  of  the  law.  A  man  living  in  New  Jersey  to  whom  one 
of  the  circulars  of  Wm.  Cooper  &  Co.  had  been  sent,  being  unwilling  to  trust 
the  treasure  therein  promised  to  the  uncertainties  of  express  carriage,  applied  in 
person  at  the  designated  office  in  New  York  for  a  supply  of  "  queer."  It  is  the 
habit  of  the  knaves  when  such  applications  are  made,  to  endeavor  if  possible  to 
get  the  applicant  to  leave  his  money  upon  a  promise  to  send  the  "  queer  "  to  his 
address,  but  under  no  circumstances  to  make  any  delivery  in  person.  On  this 
occasion  Wm.  Cooper  &  Co.  was  out,  and  one  of  his  clerks,  intending  to  do  a 
little  swindling  on  private  account,  took  $50  dollars  from  the  Jerseyman  and 
delivered  him  a  box  which  he  opened  a  few  minutes  later  at  his  hotel,  and  found 
to  contain  the  usual  assortment  of  sawdust.  While  the  smart  of  the  cheat  was 
yet  keen,  he  was  not  ashamed  to  rush  off  to  the  nearest  police  station  and  make 
public  proclamation  of  his  own  infamy.  Thereupon,  a  descent  was  made  upon 
the  den  by  police  Captain  Hedden,  and  the  eight  clerks  who  happened  to  be  in 
at  the  moment  were  seized  with  all  the  contents  of  the  office.  The  charge  of 
obtaining  money  by  fraudulent  practices  evaporated  in  the  legal  crucible ;  but  it 
happened  that  among  the  rubbish  in  the  place  was  found  a  counterfeit  $10  bill 
which  nobody  there  had  ever  attempted  to  pass,  but  its  mere  presence  was  so 
strained  at  as  a  pretext  and  proof  that  the  captives  were  indicted  by  a  United 
States  Grand  Jury.  But  this  case  had  no  prototype  and  has  had  no  successor, 
nor  does  a  pure  administration  of  the  law  demand  that  it  should,  for  the  principal 
was  not  reached  and  the  facts  were  terribly  wrenched  to  obtain  the  indictment. 

Since  then,  however,  various  attempts  have  been  made  to  employ  the  same 
means  to  better  purpose.  Several  persons  have  called  at  many  of  the  places 
from  which  the  circulars  purport  to  issue,  with  the  intent  to  inveigle  the  knaves 
into  some  clear  violation  of  some  law.  In  many  cases  the  names  of  the  persons 
appended  to  the  circulars  were  unknown  in  the  buildings  where  they  claimed  to 
have  offices  ;  but  in  others  individuals  were  found  who  were  or  pretended  to 
be  the  senders  of  the  circulars.  In  the  latter  case,  an  earnest  wish  to  purchase 
large  quantities  of  the  counterfdts  upon  the  spot  was  expressed,  but  the  person 
pretending  in  his  lithographs  to  always  have  unlimited  quantities  on  hand  was 
at  that  moment  inexplicably  out  of  the  article,  or  he  said  shortly  and  plainly  that 
it  was  dangerous  to  deal  personally  in  such  matters.  In  either  case,  he  always 
insisted  that  his  interviewer  should  leave  his  money  with  his  name  and  address, 
to  which  latter  he  would  speedily  transmit  the  desired  goods.  But  as  the  inter- 
viewer had  no  idea  of  taking  or  paying  for  the  "  queer,"  these  overtures  were  as 
fruitless  as  were  all  the  efforts  to  inveigle  the  swindler  into  an  overt  act  of  war 
against  the  law.  Armed  in  the  impenetrable  armor  of  adroit  iniquity,  these 
knaves  have  foiled  all  endeavors  to  even  interrupt,  much  less  put  an  end  to,  their 
corrupting  practices,  and  they  daily  give  the  lie  to  weak  King  Henry's  dictum : 

Thrice  is  he  armed  that  hath  his  quarrel  just 
And  he  but  naked  though  locked  up  in  steel 
Whose  conscience  with  injustice  is  corrupted. 

It  is  amazing  that  by  so  bald  a  device  as  this  a  dozen  men  in  the  garrets  of 
New  York  can  swindle  thousands  all  over  the  land  out  of  at  least  $250,000  per 
annum  ;  but  is  is  true.  Let  me  hope  that  this  plain  narration  of  perfectly  well 
authenticated  facts  will  help  to  create  a  public  sentiment  which  will  compel 
every  recipient  of  these  counterfeit  circulars  to  promptly  cast  them  into  the  fire. 
By  the  creation  of  this  sentiment,  and  in  no-  other  way  can  this  scandal  be  re- 
moved from  the  American  people,  and  these  hundreds  of  thousands  of  dollars 
saved  from  these  knaves. 


70  THE  NETHER  SIDE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Compared  with  this  particular  fraud  the  circular  swindles  are  annoyance 
rather  than  dangers.  Of  late  the  most  virulent  and  the  meanest  of  these  smaller 
swindles  is  that  of  "  J.  F.  Williams  &  Co.,  sole  manufacturers  of  aluminum  gold 
jewelry  in  the  United  States.  Office  and  show  rooms  561  Broadway,"  whose  par- 
ticular variety  is  embodied  in  an  advertisement  found  in  nearly  all  rural  news- 
papers, offering  for  $3  each  their  great  eureka  aluminum  gold  watches  of  which 
they  say : 

This  Watch  we  guarantee  to  be  the  best  and  cheapest  time-keeper  that  is  now  in  use  in  any  part  of  the 
Globe.  The  works  are  in  double  cases.  Ladies'  and  Gents'  size,  and  are  beautifully  chased.  The  cases  are 
made  of  the  metal  now  so  widely  known  in  Europe  as  Aluminum  Gold.  It  has  the  exact  color  of  Gold, 
•wkich  it  always  retains  ;  it  will  stand  the  test  of  the  strongest  acids  ;  no  one  can  tell  it  from  Gold  only  by 
weight,  the  Aluminum  Gold  being  one-fourth  lighter.  The  works  are  all  made  by  machiner)',  the  same  as 
the  well  known  American  Watch.  We  pack  the  Watch  safely  in  a  small  box  and  send  it  by  mail  to  any  part 
of  the  United  States  on  receipt  of  $3. 50  ;  fifty  cents  for  packing  and  postage.  A  key  is  sent  free  with  each 
Watch.     Money  should  be  sent  by  Post-Office  Money  order  or  in  a  Registered  Letter. 

The  victims  of  this  knavery  deserve  sympathy  rather  than  censure.  To  the 
average  uncultured  intellect  a  good  time-piece  in  cases  as  good  as  gold  is  a  de- 
sirable possibility  at  $3,  and  in  sending  the  money  to  the  swindlers  who  adver- 
tise such  articles  they  intend  and  do  no  wrong  to  the  community.  Thousands  do 
send  the  money,  and  either  get  nothing  whatever  in  return  or  a  small  toy  watch 
which  can  be  bought  anywhere  for  five  cents.  This  fact  is  so  perfectly  well 
known  that  in  many  cases  where  the  thing  is  sent  by  express  C.  O.  D.,  the  ex- 
press agents  kindly  tell  the  consignee  the  true  character  of  the  package,  and  ad- 
vise its  return  to  the  shipper  unopened.  Sometimes  this  sensible  advice  is  acted 
upon,  but  instances  are  not  rare  where  faith  has  triumphed  over  reason  and  the 
box  paid  for  and  taken  in  spite  of  the  warning.  If  J.  F.  Williams  &  Co.  at- 
tempted to  do  a  city  trade  upon  the  principle  that  governs  their  out-of-town  bus- 
iness, they  would  find  themselves  in  jail  as  a  consequence  of  their  first  transac- 
tion. Protected  by  the  non-residence  of  their  victims,  they  snap  their  fingers  in 
the  face  of  the  law,  and  I  presume  are  getting  rich  very  fast.  Very  similar  to 
their  scheme  in  its  purpose  and  results  is  that  of  James  T.  Barton  &  Co.,  599 
Broadway,  just  instituted,  which  is  called  the  "Spanish  Policy,"  and  seems  to  be 
a  lottery,  offering  prizes  ranging  in  value  from  $25  to  $10,000.  Circulars  are 
now  being  sent  all  over  the  country,  with  each  one  of  which  are  enclosed  eigh- 
teen checks  like  this  : 


THIS  CHECK  will  be  put  in  the  Wheel 
as  soon  as  received  and  paid  for :  the 
owner  thereof  will  be  lawfully  entitled 
to  whatever  Prize  it  may  draw. 


The    number   selected   by   you  should 
be   put    down    in    plain    figures    in    the 
iki,    space  above. 

5^       JAMES  T.  BARTON  &  CO. 


These  checks,  it  is  said,  are  placed  in  the  wheel,  and,  we  are  told,  "the 
drawino-s  take  place  daily  in  the  large  rotunda  in  rear  of  our  office,  at  2  o'clock 
p.  M.,  in  the  presence  of  the  purchasers  of  checks."  The  laws  of  New  York  pro- 
hibitino-  lotteries  are  rigidly  enforced,  and  if  any  such  drawing  took  place  every- 
body concerned  in  it  would  be  immediately  prosecuted  criminally.  But  this  fact 
is  not  generally  known,  and  James  T.  Barton  &  Co.  are'flourishingby  reason  of 
l>r(ye  sales  of  these  worthless  bits  of  paper  at  forty  cents  each. 


"CirculaJr"  swindlers.  71 

There  are  scores  of  such  schemes  as  this,  differing  only  in  the  names  at- 
tached, but  they  are  unworthy  of  further  description.  Out  of  the  more  legiti- 
mate lotteries  has  come  another  swindle,  illustrated  by  such  fellows  as  B.  C. 
Travers,  85  Nassau  street,  who  declare  in  circular  letters  that  "  Fortune  knocks 
once  at  every  man's  door,"  and  proceed  at  once  to  do  the  knocking  on  behalf  of 
Fortune  in  this  most  boisterous  fashion  :  "  Having  long  been  connected  with  the 
Royal  Havana  Lottery,  which  draws  every  Saturday,  and  knowing  that  the  true 
way  to  increase  business  is  to  have  a  nice  prize  of  $1,000  or  $2,000  in  the  hands 
of  some  good  person  who  will  make  it  known,  I  have  decided  to  offer  you  the 
chance,  and  if  you  will  send  me  $1,  the  price  of  a  ticket,  so  that  I  can  account 
for  it  as  being  really  sold,  I  will  send  you  one  that  will  draw  a  handsome  prize 
in  the  next  drawing  after  hearing  from  you.  After  its  receipt  I  shall  expect  you 
to  show  the  money  to  all  your  friends,  telling  them  where  you  bought  the  ticket, 
and  by  that  means  build  up  a  large  business  in  your  section.     Answer  soon." 

Very  many  do  answer  soon,  and  the  knaves,  who  of  course  buy  no  tickets  in 
the  Havana  Lottery  or  any  other,  live  very  cosily  on  the  dollars  that  flow  to 
them  for  that  purpose. 

After  the  publication  of  an  article  upon  these  swindlers  in  "  The  Galaxy,"  there 
was  an  entire  change  in  the  names  appended  to  the  circulars,  which,  however, 
still  remained  precisely  as  I  have  quoted  them.  Some  new  devices,  however 
appeared,  and  none  of  them  more  adroit  than  this  : 


TISSOT  GOLD  HUNTING  WATCH, 

3".  L,   TISSOT,  Manufacturer, 

LOCLE,    SWITZERLAND. 

NORMAN,    ADDERSON    &    CO., 

Sole  Agents  for  the  Ufiiied  States, 

NO.  7  PINE  STREET,  NEW  YORK. 

— o^ 

Wholesale  or   Trade  Price,  $240  per  dozen. 


OFFICE  OF 

NORMAN,    ADDERSON     &    CO., 

IMPORTERS  AND   MANUFACTURERS  OF 

WATCHES,  FINE  GOLD  JEWELRY,  &c., 
No.  7  Pine  street,  New  York, 

December  zst/i,  1871. 

Dear  Sir  :  As  it  is  now  almost  one  year  since  we  have  heard  from  you,  and  as  we  have  written  twice  in 
the  meantime,  we  have  concluded  to  address  you  on  the  subject  once  more.  And  should  we  not  hear  from  you 
within  twenty  days,  we  will  consider  the  watch  forfeited,  and  \vill  dispose  of  it  to  our  best  advantage  for  our- 
selves. We  would  not  hurry  you  in  this  matter  as  the  watch  is  ample  security  for  the  amount  due.  We  must 
get  our  accounts  all  straight  so  as  to  settle  up  our  books  on  the  first  of  the  new  year.  If  you  wish  now  to  settle 
the  matter,  you  can  send  the  money  by  mail  or  express  and  we  will  forward  the  watch.  Please  return  bill  with 
the  money.  Or,  if  it  would  suit  your  conyenience  better,  we  will  send  it  by  express  C.  O.  D.  with  bill, 
which  you  can  pay  on  delivery. 

Yours,  respectfully, 

Norman,  Adderson  &  Co. 

P.  S.— We  could  have  sold  the  watch  last  June  forego,  at  which  time  we  notified  you  by  mail  and  re- 
ceived no  answer. 

The  bill  referred  to  in  this  case  was  dated  February  27,  1871,  and  was  made 
up  of  $3  for  repairing  a  gold  watch,  $ig  for  loan  on  watch,  and  seventy  cents  in- 
terest, making  a  total  of  $13.70.  The  fraud  seems  small,  but  it  was  this  very 
fact  that  made  it  effective.  Sent  out  by  hundreds  all  over  the  country,  these 
letters  produced  in  the  aggregate  a  very  respectable  amount  for  the  knaves  who 
mailed  them.  Many  of  them  of  course  were  unproductive,  as  the  recipients 
were  not  caught  by  the  shallow  bait,  but  the  majority  are  hooked.  They  know 
of  course  that  they  never  left  a  watch  to  be  repaired,  and  that  they  never  got  a 
loan  of  $10  upon  it,  but  they  suppose  that  a  mistake  has  been  made  in  address- 
ing the  letter,  and  they  cannot  resist  the  temptation  to  steal  by  indirection  a 
watch  which  could  have  been  sold  "last  June  for  $90."  Many  of  them  therefore 
hasten  to  remit  the  required  $13.70,  and   find  that   they  have   themselves   been 


72  THE  NETHER  SIDE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

sold  at  a  singularly  low  rate.  If  they  send  the  money  by  mail  or  express,  it  is 
the  last  act  in  their  transactions  with  Norman,  Adderson  &  Co.  But  if  they 
choose  the  C.  O.  D.  alternative,  they  promptly  receive  the  package  after  having 
paid  the  bill,  and  on  opening  it  discover  to  their  intense  disgust  that  it  is  only 
stuffed  with  sawdust. 

There  is  anotlier  of  tliese  schemes  which  is  somewhat  more  complex  but  is 
of  the  same  general  character.  The  first  step  in  its  perpetration  is  the  mailing 
of  letters,  oftering  those  addressed  the  agency  of  a  lottery,  the  prospectus  of 
which  is  enclosed.  After  a  time  the  recipients  of  these  letters  receive  another, 
stating  that  in  order  to  awaken  public  confidence  in  the  lottery  it  has  been  de- 
mined  to  present  each  agent  with  a  gold  watch  worth  two  hundred  dollars,  as  a 
sample  of  the  goods  which  are  to  be  subjected  to  the  drawing.  This  offer  elicit- 
ing proffers  to  act  as  agents  from  many  of  those  addressed,  the  next  step  is  a 
third  letter,  in  which  it  is  said  that  after  further  consideration  the  managers 
have  concluded  to  send  a  chain  also,  but  for  this  the  nominal  price  of  fifteen 
dollars  each  must  be  charged,  and  a  certificate  from  a  leading  house  is  enclosed 
that  tliese  chains  are  of  a  certain  number  of  pennyweights  each,  and  worth  a 
price  per  pennyweight,  which  shows  them  to  be  double  in  value  the  amount 
charged  for  them.  The  preparation  of  the  bait  is  completed  by  this  plausible 
letter,  and  it  has  been  swallowed  by  thousands  in  all  parts  of  the  country.  Those 
who  offer  to  accept  the  watch  and  chain  on  the  terms  mentioned,  are  speedily 
delighted  by  its  arrival  by  express  C.  O.  D.  Taking  their  prize  to  their  homes, 
after  paying  the  fifteen  dollars  with  express  charges  added,  it  generally  requires 
some  little  time  to  convince  them  that  their  gold  watch  and  chain  are  made  of 
oroide  and  are  worth  at  least  eight  dollars.  So  that  they  are  swindled  out  of 
but  little  more  than  half  of  their  money.  If  they  expect  to  recover  this  a-mount 
by  confiscating  money  received  for  the  sale  of  tickets  in  the  lottery  the}'  are 
again  doomed  to  disappointment,  as  no  tickets  are  ever  sent  them,  and  all  efforts 
to  obtain  an  explanation  from  their  correspondent  are  unavailing. 

This  chapter  has  been  entitled  "  Circular  Swindlers,"  but  it  would  have  been, 
perhaps,  more  true  to  have  put  the  title  in  the  singular  number.  There  are,  as 
I  have  said,  some  dozen  of  rascals  engaged  in  fleecing  the  credulous  by  these 
schemes,  but  they  are  all  base  imitators  of  one  man,  who  may  be  justly  called 
the  shrewdest  knave  alive.  In  his  fertile  brain  have  originated  nearly  all  the 
fraudulent  schemes  of  this  character  with  which  the  country  has  been  afflicted 
during  the  last  decade.  I  first  knew  of  him  a  dozen  years  ago  as  the  keeper  of 
a  gift  jewelry  store,  and  it  would  require  the  whole  of  this  volume  to  enumerate 
the  fraudulent  affairs  in  which  he  has  been  engaged  since  that  time.  Gift  jew- 
elry, prize  candy,  "  Milton  gold,"  gift  concerts,  dollar  stores,  grand  combination 
lotteries,  and  circular  swindles  of  every  description,  have  been  only  a  few  of  his 
devices  for  wheedling  people  out  of  their  money.  I  have  heard  of  him  creating 
an  intense  excitement  in  rural  towns  by  scattering  watches  and  trinkets  broad- 
cast from  the  advertising  wagon  of  a  lottery  scheme,  the  tickets  for  which  were 
sold  upon  the  spot  before  the  astonished  people  had  time  to  discover  that  his 
watches  were  without  works  and  all  his  articles  made  of  base  metal.  I  am  told, 
and  know  enough  of  the  man  to  believe,  that  he  prides  himself  upon  his  fertility 
in  roguery,  and  counts  that  month  lost  in  which  he  does  not  concoct  some  new 
device  to  part  fools  and  their  funds.  It  must  be  said  to  his  discredit,  however, 
that  he  did  not  originate  the  sawdust  phase  of  the  circular  swindle,  but  he  has 
the  consolation  of  knowing  that  this  most  cunning  shape  which  knavery  ever 
took  was  the  work  of  one  who  sat  at  his  feet  as  a  pupil  until  he  became  a  master 


"CIRCULAR"  SWINDLERS.  73 

of  his  art.  For  another  of  his  disciples  he  has  only  contempt,  as  he  proved  a 
bungler,  and  thus  won  the  great  distinction  of  being  the  only  circular  swindler 
ever  awarded  a  term  in  State  prison  for  obtaining  money  by  trick  and  device. 
There  is  no  hope  that  the  great  master  in  the  art  of  wheedling  will  ever  meet  a 
like  fate,  for  he  is  always  careful  to  keep  within  the  letter  of  the  law,  or,  in  de- 
fault of  that,  so  manages  as  to  make  his  victims  particeps  crimtnis,  and  thus 
seals  their  lips  as  to  his  transgressions.  He  is  now  immensely  rich,  and  if  he  is 
as  circumspect  and  fertile  in  the  future  as  he  has  been  in  the  past,  I  see  no  rea- 
son to  doubt  that  he  will  accumulate  one  of  the  largest  fortunes  ever  gathered  by 
human  effort.  Although  known  to  be  a  rogue  of  the  first  class,  it  is  almost  im- 
possible to  begrudge  this  man  his  bright  prospects.  In  his  dealings  with  his  de- 
pendents he  is  more  than  scrupulously  honest,  for  he  is  as  liberal  as  he  is  ready 
of  resource.  He  has  scores  of  young  men  in  his  employ  writing  the  circulars 
with  which  the  country  is  flooded,  and  he  pays  them  so  well  that  rapid  penmen 
can  make  $60  per  week,  and  his  terms  to  the  young  women  he  employs  in  the 
stores  he  opens  from  time  to  time,  put  to  shame  legitimate  tradesmen  who  starve 
female  labor.  It  is  possible  this  man  may  yet  be  set  before  the  public  with  the 
prominence  he  deserves,  and  when  he  is,  the  good  that  is  in  him  must  be  told  in 
mitigation,  so  far  as  it  will  go,  of  the  evil  he  has  done. 


"  SKINNERS." 


OBSERVING  Detective  Elder  looking  intently  at  a  man  of  most  respecta- 
ble appearance,  who  nodded  shortly  as  he  passed  us  with  the  quickness  of 
motion  peculiar  to  "the  Street,"  I  asked:  "Who  is  that?" 

"  A  Skinner  who  carries  his  office  in  his  hat ! "  was  the  reply. 

When  a  sharper  proves  himself  a  master  of  his  art,  always  ready  to  adapt 
himself  to  any  exigency  however  suddenly  presented,  and  constantly  intriguing 
with  success  for  illegal  gains,  without  incurring  the  penalties  of  any  statute  of 
frauds  yet  devised,  he  rises  to  the  dignity  of  a  skinner,  who  is  the  rankest  growth 
of  that  rare  roguery  which  dodges  the  law  at  every  turn,  and  is  nowhere  pro- 
duced in  such  perfection  as  in  the  financial  hot-bed  of  the  continent. 

Wall  street  has  absorbed  more  of  the  twisted  intellect  which  delights  in  trick 
and  device  than  any  other  spot  of  earth.  The  place  seems  to  breed  indirections 
as  naturally  as  swamps  do  miasms  ;  for  the  line  between  legitimate  operations 
and  achievements  which  even  the  moral  sense  of  brokers  declares  to  be  crimes 
is  so  faint  and  uncertain  that  thousands  hover  constantly  on  its  edge,  while  hun- 
dreds step  beyond  it  without  provoking  rebuke  or  punishment.  The  methods 
of  business  which  thus  merge  the  devious  and  straightforward  into  a  mass  where 
one  is  difficult  to  distinguish  from  the  other,  have  so  depreciated  the  standard  of 
honesty  that  there  is  little  moral  difference  between  the  shrewd,  driving  business 
man  and  the  scheming,  restless  scamp. 

The  knavery  which  Wall  street  breeds  is  known  to  all  the  world  which  has 
heard  of  such  affairs  as  the  Schuyler  frauds,  the  Ross,  Cross,  and  Van  Eeten 
forgeries,  the  Harlem  corner,  the  Ketchum  crimes,  the  colossal  swindling  of 
Black  Friday,  and  the  many  great  defalcations  and  embezzlements  which  the 
journals  have  chronicled  for  a  day's  sensation.  The  turpitude  revealed  by  such 
events  as  these  has  been  provocative  of  public  philippics  without  number,  and 
has  caused  much  anxious  inquiry  for  the  means  of  improving  the  moral  condi- 
tion of  the  street.  The  world  has  been  moved  to  censure  and  remonstrance  by 
a  partial  knowledge  of  the  facts,  for  it  has  never  heard  of  the  numberless  trans- 
actions which  make  no  noise  because  of  their  frequency,  and  gain  only  a  little 
"item"  report  in  the  newspapers,  or  are  never  recorded  at  all  for  the  public. 
These  lesser  affairs,  in  which  the  biter  is  an  unknown  rogue,  who  shuns  the  pub- 
lic honors  that  wait  upon  stupendous  crimes,  and  the  bitten  is  not  sufficiently  in- 
jured to  fill  the  whole  land  with  the  agony  of  his  depletion,  are  daily  incidents 
of  Wall  street  life  ;  and  only  by  knowledge  of  them  can  a  just  verdict  be  rendered 
in  a  matter  where  judgment  has  been  already  given  against  the  street,  upon  the 
evidence  of  exceptional  cases. 

Some  general  information  therefore  of  the  tribe  of  skinners  and  their  busi- 
ness habits  which  result  in  these  minor  derelictions,  will  be  found  to  be  of  in- 
terest. 

As  a  rule,  the  man  who  carries  his  office  in  his  hat  is  not  a  satisfactory  per- 
son with  whom  to  have  dealings  in  such  immaterial  things  as  stocks  and  bonds. 
He  will  not  do  at  all  in  that  "day  game  "  played  in  Broad  street  without  intf>r- 
ference  from  the  police,  who  do  occasionally  pounce  upon  the  gentlemen  who 
seek  some  show  for  their  money  by  playing  faro  in  Ann  street.  In  an  affair  so 
unsubstantial  as  gold  gambling,  the  man  with  his  office  in  his  hat  would  so  add 
to  the  airiness  that  "  margins  "  would  remain  a  fleeting  show  only  until  the  "  curb* 


"SKINNERS."  75 

stone  broker"  had  time  to  get  around  the  next  corner;  and  for  the  reason  per- 
haps that  the  members  of  the  New  York  Gold  Exchange  know  so  much  them- 
selves, the  skinners  have  rarely  attempted  to  play  any  of  their  little  games  upon 
tliem.  I  have  had  occasion  in  these  articles  to  remark  upon  the  wonderful  ver- 
dancy of  people  in  general,  but  I  do  mankind  the  credit  of  believing  that  there  are 
very  few  people  who  will  pick  up  a  stranger  in  Wall  street  of  whose  local  habitation 
or  business  standing  they  have  no  knowledge  whatever,  and  hand  him  over  some 
thousands  of  dollars  to  wager  on  the  price  of  gold.  The  fever  of  gold  gambling 
has  indirectly  brought  many  fish  to  the  skinner's  nets  by  creating  an  insatiate 
thirst  for  speculation  in  things  unseen ;  but  with  gold-betting  itself  he  has  not 
often  meddled,  and  the  genuine  skinner  has  never  done  so  in  person.  No  one 
of  the  class  is  a  member  of  the  Exchange,  wherefore  he  could  not  himself  play 
in  the  glittering  game,  nor  could  he  act  for  others  there.  I  have  therefore  nof 
undertaken  to  obtain  any  facts  as  to  the  operations  of  skinners  in  gold,  as  I  was 
convinced  I  would  be  gleaning  in  a  barren  field. 

Nor  has  this  master  workman  ever  made  many  attempts  to  obtain  funds  by 
writing  another  man's  name  to  a  check.  Forgery  as  it  was  practised  by  the 
great  criminals  of  the  last  decade  is  a  lost  art.  In  that  dead  and  gone  era  when 
villany  v/as  in  its  swaddling  clothes,  John  Ross  astonished  and  dumfounded 
Wall  street  by  fleecing  it  one  afternoon  of  half  a  million  of  dollars  by  means 
of  forged  checks,  which  were  such  in  the  true  meaning  of  the  words.  At  an 
©arlier  day,  and  by  meaui  of  more  numerous  illustrations,  Colonel  Cross  had 
achieved  a  notoriety  in  the  same  line  which  afterwards  ripened  into  fame  by  his 
forging  his  way  twice  out  of  prison.  But  these  men,  who  embodied  the  highest 
skill  of  their  day,  were  forced  by  their  limited  knowledge  of  the  capabilities  of 
their  calling  to  go  to  the  banks  with  checks  that  had  not  the  least  odor. of 
genuineness  about  them,  but  were  in  all  respects  the  handiwork  of  fraud.  Living- 
ston, who  obtained  $72,000  on  a  forged  check  of  Cornelius  Vandebilt  some  three 
years  ago,  was  the  last  notable  case  of  this  species  of  robbery.  Since  then  the 
operators  in  this  line  have  devoted  their  skill  first  to  obtaining  the  genuine  check 
of  some  person  or  firm  having  a  large  bank  account,  and  next  to  altering  it  for 
such  sum  larger  than  that  for  which  it  was  drawn  as  their  necessities  may  re- 
quire or  their  fancy  dictate.  This  was  the  method  of  Van  Eeten,  and  all  other 
of  the  shrewder  knaves  who  have  recently  become  famous  as  forgers,  and  it  has 
the  great  advantage  of  leaving  the  lawyers  a  chance  to  quibble  about  the  exact 
character  of  the  offence  which  has  been  committed.  But  it  has  for  the  skinners 
the  equally  great  disadvantage  of  being  an  operation  requiring  time  and  money 
for  success.  From  the  day  when  the  forger  obtains  the  genuine  check  by  sell- 
ing the  party  to  be  fleeced  a  bond,  asking  for  a  check  instead  of  money,  as  he  de- 
sires to  make  a  remittance,  many  days  must  elapse  before  the  check  will  be  ready 
to  direct  the  bank  to  pay  $10,000  instead  of  $100.  The  filling  up  must  be  erased 
with  chemicals  which  leave  no  trace  of  themselves  or  the  former  writing  upon 
the  paper,  and  the  blanks  must  be  again  filled  up  for  the  amount  desired  in  such 
way  as  to  appear  regular  and  business-like.  The  skinner  has  the  skill  to  do 
this  thing  or  have  it  done,  for  he  can  do  anything  except  obey  the  primal  law 
and  earn  his  bread  by  the  sweat  of  his  brow  ;  but  he  has  not  the  time  or  money 
required  for  it.  He  is  a  hand-to-mouth  knave,  who  spends  as  he  gets,  and  gen- 
erally depends  upon  the  rogueries  of  each  day  to  pay  the  expenses  thereof.  He 
therefore  prefers  the  swift  return  and  small  profit  system  of  conducting  his  affairs, 
and  will  commence  and  finish  a  dozen  operations  during  the  time  the  forger  is 
patiently  working  upon  one.  There  are  cases,  however,  where  a  skinner  who 
has  happened  to  have  a  little  money  to  invest  has  become  a  special  partner  in  a 


76  THE  NETHER  SIDE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

forgery ;  but  in  that  event  he  has  only  kept  sufficient  supervision  of  the  matter 
to  protect  his  own  interests,  and  has  by  no  means  neglected  his  daily  harvest  ot 
the  green  things — of  things  growing  so  miraculously  in  Wall  street. 

If  any  reader  has  ever  gone  into  Wall  street  in  pursuit  of  a  stolen 
United  States  bond,  or  to  sell  an  unmarketable  security,  he  can  profitably 
omit  a  perusal  of  these  pages,  if  his  sole  object  in  reading  is  the  garnering  of 
new  facts.  In  the  one  case  lie  probably  met  Detective  William  G.  Elder,  or  De- 
tective Thomas  Sampson,  and  in  the  other  has  had  most  sorrowful  personal  ex- 
periences, so  that  nobody  can  tell  him  anything  new  about  the  skinners.  But 
for  the  benefit  of  those  vvho  cannot  get  this  positive  testimony,  which  in  this 
case  defies  the  legal  axiom,  and  is  the  least  satisfactory  of  all,  I  go  on  to  state 
that  skinners  delight  most  of  all  in  stocks  and  bonds,  and  manifest  their  prow- 
ess in  connection  with  these  representatives  of  values  in  ways  more  dark  and 
by  tricks  more  vain  than  any  Ah  Sin  ever  mastered.  Possessed  of  rare  percep- 
tive powers,  great  readiness  of  resource,  vast  versatility,  perfect  coolness  under 
all  circumstances,  attractive  appearance,  persuasive  address,  and  unlimited 
shrewdness,  these  men  are  gifted  with  powers  that,  added  to  moral  force,  would 
rank  them  among  the  benefactors  of  mankind  in  commerce  or  finance.  But  be- 
ing naturally  dishonest,  and  preferring  the  oblique  path  when  the  straight  and 
narrow  way  is  equally  easy  of  access  and  more  satisfactory  in  its  results,  they  are 
among  the  most  finished,  plausible,  and  dangerous  of  outlaws.  Their  fertility  in 
roguery  is  wonderful  and  perplexing.  If  one  of  them  is  to-day  hairy  as  Esau, 
to-morrow,  if  an  exigency  demands  it,  he  appears  as  a  convert  to  the  barber's 
practice,  and  the  next  day  reverts  to  his  original  faith  if  the  occasion  requires 
another  metamorphosis.  With  all  the  world  before  him  where  to  choose  his 
business  habitation,  he  chooses  everywhere,  so  that  no  man  knows  where  to  put 
a  finger  on  him  when  he  is  wanted.     With  him, 

To  have  done  is  to  hang 
Quite  out  of  fashion,  Hke  a  rusty  mail 
In  monumental  mockery, 

and  he  never  repeats  a  fraud  precisely  as  it  was  done  before.  In  its  general 
aspects  it  may  be  like  its  predecessors,  but  there  is  always  some  distinguishing 
difference  which  stamps  it  as  an  improved  method  of  roguery.  Provided  with 
names  in  unlimited  number,  and  with  cards  bearing  these  several  cognomens, 
each  locating  his  office  at  a  different  place,  at  no  one  of  which  is  he  ever  found 
or  known,  he  is  a  myth  to  the  law,  and  only  a  momentary  although  terrible 
reality  to  his  victims. 

This  perfection  of  knavery  at  some  time  and  in  some  way  takes  his  commis- 
sion out  of  nearly  every  kind  of  security  which  is  ever  oiTered  for  sale  in  Wall 
street,  besides  manufacturing  some  on  private  account  which  the  street  never 
hears  of  except  through  his  operations.  But  so  far  as  he  can,  and  to  the  ex- 
tent of  the  supply,  he  devotes  himself  to  working  back  stolen  United  States 
bonds  into  the  channels  of  legitimate  business.  Coupon  bonds  are  his  first 
preference,  as  tiiey  are  of  the  thief,  to  whom,  after  greenbacks,  they  are  the  best 
plunder.  Possession  ht'mg  prima  facie  evidence  of  ownership,  the  Government 
has  necessarily  been  compelled  to  recognize  all  sales  of  these  bonds  as  legiti- 
mate, as  otherwise  they  would  be  the  least  desirable  of  investments,  and  money 
would  seek  some  more  satisfactory  resting  place.  But  this  doctrine,  which  alone 
makes  these  bonds  so  valuable  as  a  medium  of  exchange,  has  the  drawback  of  its 
application  when  they  get  into  the  hands  of  thieves.  Nearly  all  of  the  coupon 
bonds — probably  ninety  per  cent. — stolen  in  the  United  States,  begin  tlieir  jour- 
ney back  to  innocent  holders  in  Wall  street.     The  thieves  or  their  agents  rarely 


"SKINNERS."  77 

having  the  tact  or  boldness  to  put  them  directly  upon  the  market,  the  skinner 
obtains  his  opportunity,  which  he  never  neglects.  Sometimes  he  is  content  with 
a  moderate  commission,  and,  dealing  with  some  broker  whose  precise  status  is 
not  the  best  known  fact  in  the  world,  he  sells  the  bonds  for  about  ninety — allow- 
ing the  market  rate  to  be  par— and  settles  with  the  thief  at  eighty.  The 
broker  who  buys  has  at  least  an  equivocal  standing  in  the  street,  and  generally 
has  little  difficulty  in  disposing  of  them  at  the  regular  price  ;  and,  that  accom- 
plished, the  bonds  are  back  again  where  they  need  not  blush  for  the  parties  in 
possession.  But  this  operation  is  so  tame  that  the  skinner  never  resorts  to  it 
when  the  chance  for  something  better  is  presented.  In  some  cases  he  will  go  to 
the  broker  he  has  selected  as  his  victim,  and  declare  openly  that  he  has  stolen 
coupon  bonds  and  desires  to  sell  them.  The  price  he  names  is  about  twenty 
per  cent,  under  the  market.  He  will  give  the  number  of  bonds,  but  never  per- 
mits them  to  be  seen,  much  less  counted.  The  broker  snapping  at  this  opportu- 
nity, an  appointment  is  made  for  a  time  and  place  for  the  money  to  be  paid 
and  the  bonds  delivered,  both  being  always  certain  to  be  favorable  to  the  sud- 
den disappearance  of  the  skinner.  When  the  parties  meet,  a  package  of  bonds 
is  exhibited  of  which  the  top  one  is  seen  to  be  all  regular  ;  and  the  money  being 
handed  over,  the  skinner  bolts  away,  leaving  the  broker  to  discover  that  his 
package  contains  just  one  bond,  while  the  remainder  of  the  bulk  is  made  up  of 
blank  paper  folded  to  match  it.  Varied  to  meet  the  special  details  of  each  case, 
this  fraud  has  been  repeated  in  the  street  with  a  frequency  which  shows  the  alarm- 
ino-  amount  of  stolen  coupons  constantly  afloat,  and  the  readiness  of  unac- 
credited brokers  to  assist  the  thieves  in  working  them  back,  nor  is  it  often  a  sub- 
ject of  judicial  investigation,  as  the  complainant  is  not  clean-handed,  and  con- 
sequently has  no  standing  in  court. 

If  thieves  had  more  nerve  and  sense,  the  skinners  would  rarely  be  able  to 
manage  this  or  any  other  operation  in  coupons  so  greatly  to  their  own  advantage. 
It  is  only  by  throwing  the  odor  of  suspicion  upon  the  bonds,  and  so  conduct- 
ing the  affair  as  to  create  a  belief  among  those  engaged  in  it  that  a  very  ras- 
cally matter  is  in  progress,  that  the  skinner  succeeds  in  so  depreciating  the 
property  that  he  can  make  something  out  of  it.  The  great  army  of  sneak  thieves 
and  bank  burglars  by  whom  all  of  these  surreptitious  securities  are  put  upon 
the  market  are  not  all  dolts,  and  there  are  numerous  cases  where  they  or  their 
immediate  factors  have'  gone  boldly  upon  the  market  and  realized  the  face  of 
their  plunder.  One  such  case  occurred  not  long  ago,  where  the  bonds  were  pur- 
chased openly  by  first-rate  houses  without  suspicion  of  the  way  in  which  they 
had  been  obtained  ;  checks  to  the  amount  of  $50,000  given,  and  these  latter  cashed 
the  same  day  without  question  by  a  leading  bank.  Unless  he  has  surrendered  it 
to  some  faro  bank,  the  thief  is  now  enjoying  this  substantial  reward  of  his  enter- 
prise. It  is  always  best  to  go  to  leading  houses,  for  if  the  negotiations  are  suc- 
cessful in  the  outset  and  the  bonds  purchased,  there  is  no  danger  of  subsequent 
disaster,  as  the  checks  of  these  firms  are  guarantees  everywhere  of  the  eminent 
respectability  of  the  whole  affair.  On  the  other  hand,  in  dealing  with  brokers 
whose  standing  is  not  the  best,  the  matter  is  questioned  and  scrutinized  to  the 
close,  and  the  spoiler  is  never  sure  of  his  booty  until  he  has  disappeared  around 
the  corner  after  exchanging  his  check  for  the  money  it  demands.  And  he  must 
in  every  case  undergo  this  ordeal,  for  no  prudent  broker  ever  thinks  of  giving 
money  for  bonds,  but  pays  for  them  with  a  check  drawn  to  order,  with  the  idea 
that  if  there  is  any  villany  in  the  thing,  it  will  out  before  the  party  holding  the 
check  can  be  identified  and  get  the  money.  But  if  he  is  dealing  with  a  skinner, 
the  broker  finds  his  precaution  a  broken  reed,  for  the  latter  never  goes  to  the 


78  THE  NETHER  SIDE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

bank  with  the  ch«ck.     He  goes  and  buys   a  small  bill  with   his  check,  which  is 
unhesitatingly  taken,  and  the  difference  between  its  face  and  his  bill  given  him. 
The  same  device  for  the  same  purpose  is  used  in  many  other  operations  by  the     . 
skinner,  but  it  is  rarely  omitted  when  disposing  of  a  check  drawn  to  order. 

In  dealing  with  registered  bonds  of  the  United  States  which  have  been  stolen, 
the  genius  of  the  skinner  has  greater  scope,  and  he  reaches  his  reward  by  more 
devious  ways.  He  first  gets  his  bonds  from  the  thief  or  receiver,  and  then  med- 
itates profoundly  upon  the  subject  of  their  disposition.  He  knows  that  it  is  ut- 
terly impossible  to  destroy  the  proprietary  rights  of  the  person  whose  name  is 
upon  them,  for  whether  that  person  be  in  actual  possession  or  not,  by  giving  the 
Government  a  bond  of  indemnitj',  he  can  draw  the  interest  and  receive  the  prin- 
cipal wlien  the  bonds  mature.  Nor  will  any  alteration  of  the  obligations  be  more 
than  a  temporary  expedient,  for  only  a  moment  is  required  at  the  United  States 
Sub-Treasury  to  discover  any  cheating  changes.  For  these  reasons  the  skinner 
never  attempts  to  sell  registered  bonds,  although  he  is  always  ready  to  buy  them 
of  a  thief  at  twenty  cents  on  he  dollar.  When  he  has  them,  his  first  task  is  to 
prepare  them  for  his  purpose  by  altering  the  names  and  numbers.  He  then  es- 
tablishes himself,  either  personally  or  by  a  confederate,  in  business,  and  obtains 
a  financial  footing  by  opening  a  small  account  in  a  bank.  There  is  no  one  thing 
so  much  like  charity  in  its  power  to  cover  a  multitude  of  sins  as  a  bank  account, 
and  I  hardly  know  what  a  man  may  not  do  who  has  a  balance  at  his  banker's. 
The  skinner  in  such  case  becomes  a  worker  of  miracles,  for  no  sooner  is  he 
known  as  a  customer  of  the  bank  than  he  offers  the  stolen  and  altered  bonds 
for  hypothecation,  and  is  not  refused.  He  never  wishes  to  sell  them,  but  he 
never  makes  the  fatal  mistake  of  demanding  too  little  upon  them  as  a  loan.  In 
that  case  the  bank  would  do  what  would  be  done  in  all  such  cases  if  these  insti- 
tutions were  managed  with  ordinary  prudence — make  the  trivial  examination 
required  to  detect  the  fraud.  If  the  skinner  should  timidly  demand  fifty  per  cent, 
of  the  face,  he  would  certainly  get  nothing  ;  but  as  he  demands  ninety,  or  at  the 
least  eighty,  his  bank  is  left  to  meditate  upon  its  folly  after  he  has  got  his  money 
and  withdrawn  his  account,  which  are  invariably  simultaneous  events.  He  has 
other  methods  of  reaching  his  end,  for  he  is  never  so  poor  as  to  have  but  one 
string  to  his  bow  ;  but  he  generally  adheres  to  the  plan  described,  with  variations 
in  the  details  to  prevent  suspicion  of  his  purpose.  As  an  additional  safeguard 
he  never  attempts  any  of  his  games  a  second  time  upon  the  same  person.  By 
strict  attention  to  business  he  manages  to  deal  year  after  year  in  the  bonds  of 
the  United  States  without  anybody  but  his  victims  being  the  wiser,  or  any  body 
but  himself  being  the  richer. 

It  is  not,  however,  until  he  gets  outside  of  these  bonds,  and  is  put  as  it  were 
upon  his  mettle,  that  the  skinner  lays  any  very  severe  tax  upon  his  resources. 
These  bonds  give  him  a  basis  of  fact  for  his  operations,  which  are  comparatively 
tame  and  easy  ;  but  when  he  must  create  his  basis  as  well,  he  can  feel  some 
pride  and  interest  in  his  achievements.  When  he  manufactures  his  securities  as 
well  as  sells  them,  he  may  not  make  so  much  money,  as  in  fact  he  does  not  ; 
but  tliere  is  vast  satisfaction  in  swindling  somebody  with  them,  as  is  frequently 
the  case.  He  adheres  in  this  instance,  as  always,  to  strict  business  rules,  and 
his  first  precaution  is  to  obtain  a  confederate  who  has  a  room  in  some  garret  or 
cellar,  on  the  door  of  which  he  tacks  a  tin  sign  bearing  the  name  of  some  grand 
consolidated  mining  or  railroad  company  which  is  unknown  in  the  street,  except 
through  skinning  operations.  Having  a  reau_,  '•eference  provided,  the  skinner 
watches  for  his  prey  witli  an  intuitive  perception  'if  the  proper  person  to  ap 
proach  which  seldom  betrays  him  into  a  mistake.     The  Viv.'.im  is  always  a  n^w 


"SKINNERS."  79 

comer  or  a  casual  dabbler  in  stocks,  who  knows  nothing  whatever  of  the  wiles 
of  Wall  street,  and  who,  having  a  conviction  that  he  has  penetrated  into  an  El 
Dorado  where  fortunes  are  made  in  an  hour,  is  ready  to  snap  at  the  first  great 
bargain  presented.  The  skinner  knows  this  individual  at  a  glance,  and,  easily 
managing  to  make  his  acquaintance,  beguiles  him  with  stories  of  the  craft  of  the 
street,  and  advises  him  to  be  very  careful  or  he  will  find  himself  victimized. 
Never  buy  anything  on  any  man's  representations,  says  the  skinner,  but  always 
deinand  references  and  make  personal  examination  into  the  truth  of  the  state- 
ments which  have  been  made.  The  skinner  very  probably  tells  some  of  his  own 
woful  experiences  to  show  that  he  speaks  as  one  having  j^ersonal  knowledge  ; 
but  he  is  always  careful  to  add  that  he  got  the  advantage  of  the  knaves  in  the 
end,  and  winds  up  with  careless  and  general  remarks,  from  which  his  sagacity 
and  prosperity  as  a  dealer  in  all  kinds  of  known  or  unknown  securities  can  be 
inferred.  He  then  invites  his  friend  into  some  adjacent  restaurant  or  saloon, 
and  while  acting  as  his  host  does  him  the  favor  of  showing  him  a  first-class  invest- 
ment by  producing  bonds  of  the  Grand  Consolidated  What  Not,  which  he  de- 
clares to  be  worth  par,  but  which,  owing  to  the  machinations  of  the  street,  have 
been  depressed,  and  are  oiTered  at  a  ruinous  discount. 

The  victim  nibbles  feverishly  at  the  bait  ;  but  suddenly  remembering  tlie  ex- 
cellent advice  he  has  just  received,  astonishes  himself  by  demanding  a  reference, 
which  is,  of  course,  unhesitatingly  given,  and  he  is  invited  to  make  the  closest 
inquiry.  The  address  being  furnished,  he  hurries  away  to  the  confederate,  who, 
on  being  questioned,  says  carelessly  that  the  bonds  are  not  number  one, 
but  he  will  give  eighty-five  for  them.  This  being  at  least  ten  per  cent,  more 
than  t1ie  skinner  had  demanded,  the  victim  rushes  back  delighted  with  the  pros- 
pect of  swindling  that  unsuspecting  gentleman.  Both  being  thus  eager  for  a 
bargain,  it  is  soon  concluded,  and  the  two,  as  the  victim  supposes,  part  com- 
pany. But  the  skinner  only  drops  into  the  background,  and  keeps  his  eye  upon 
the  other  long  enough  to  be  assured  of  his  movements  after  he  has  discovered 
the  fraud.  If  he  goes  away  with  more  of  sorrow  than  of  anger  in  his  demeanor 
after  his  vain  search  through  the  street  for  the  man  vyith  whom  he  had  dealt, 
and  for  the  broker  who  would  give  eighty-five,  but  is  always  out,  the  skinner 
knows  it  is  safe  to  repeat  the  operation  at  the  first  opportunity  ;  but  if  the  vic- 
tim hastens  at  once  to  the  nearest  police  station,  or  is  seen  in  conversation  with 
any  of  the  detectives,  the  skinner  is  aware  that  business  calls  him  up  town  for 
the  remainder  of  that  day  ;  and  he  appears,  if  it  all,  during  the  next  few  days, 
in  another  round  of  his  favorite  characters. 

There  are  literally  no  bounds  to  the  ingenuity  of  the  skinner  when  dealing  in 
bogus  securities  or  in  the  bonds  of  companies  or  corporations,  public  and  pri- 
vate, which  are  not  quoted  and  have  only  nominal  values.  He  did  a  good  deal 
in  town  war  debt  bonds  for  a  time,  but  latterly  these  have  been  harder  to  obtain, 
and  he  not  thinking  it  worth  while  to  make  them  outright,  his  trade  in  them  has 
almost  ceased.  There  is  not  space  to  even  enumerate  his  numberless  bond  and 
stock  operations,  as  he  has  other  fields  of  labor  which  must  be  hastily  described. 
When  all  other  means  of  swindling  fail  him  he  has  recourse  to  the  bogus 
check,  which,  rightly  managed,  is  an  unfailing  source  of  supply.  It  seems  a  libel 
upon  the  common  sense  of  the  mercantile  world  to  believe  that  the  check  of  a 
stranger  is  taken  in  payment  of  goods,  especially  when  it  is  more  than  the  bill, 
and  the  difference  must  be  handed  over  to  that  stranger  in  money  ;  but  it  is  an 
every-day  occurrence.  There  are  any  number  of  cases  where  the  skinner  has  en- 
tered a  large  retail  store,  purchased  goods  to  a  small  amount,  tendered  a  check 


8o  THE  NETHER  SIDE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

for  a  few  dollars  more,  and  been  permitted  to  walk  away  with  both  money  and 
goods.  His  conduct  in  these  enterprises  is  always  controlled  by  the  special  cir- 
cumstances of  each,  but  in  all  it  is  founded  on  the  abounding  faith  of  mankind 
in  the  honesty  and  financial  responsibility  of  the  man  claiming  to  have  a  bank 
account.  Sometimes  the  skinner  is  timid  and  gets  only  the  odd  dollars,  as  he  di- 
rects the  goods  to  be  sent  to  a  house  where  he  is  not  found  and  they  go  back  to 
the  owner;  at  other  times  he  is  found,  blandly  receives  the  parcel,  and  disap- 
pears with  it  in  some  manner  the  porter  is  never  able  to  clearly  state. 

Not  long  since  a  skinner,  sauntering  up-town  after  a  day  of  ill  luck  in  Wall 
street,  managed  to  bring  down  two  birds  with  one  stone  in  a  manner  that  greatly 
increased  the  credit  of  his  tribe.  Stepping  into  a  leading  furnishing  store  in 
Broadway,  he  bought  cravats,  collars,  gloves,  and  other  articles  to  the  amount  of 
$65,  and  taking  out  his  pocket-book  displayed  a  large  roll  of  bills.  But  he  sudden- 
ly remembered  that  he  desired  to  make  other  purchases  on  his  way,  especially  of 
cigars  at  a  prominent  up-town  Broadway  grocery,  and  proposed  to  give  a  check 
for  $100  for  his  purchases,  as  he  wished  to  use  that  evening  a  little  more  money 
than  he  had  with  him.  The  check  was  readily  accepted,  and  with  his  goods  and 
$35  he  walked  leisurely  away.  Getting  to  the  grocery,  he  purchased  cigars  and 
liquors  to  the  amount  of  $75,  and  desired  to  pay  for  them  with  a  check,  as  he 
had  just  paid  out  all  the  money  he  had  with  him  at  the  furnishing  store,  which 
establishment  he  boldly  gave  as  a  reference.  He  had  the  goods  with  the  label 
of  the  house  upon  the  parcels,  his  statement  was  believed  and  he  walked  away 
with  another  §25  added  to  his  store.  In  this  case  he  desired  the  goods  sent  to 
his  residence,  which  was  done,  and  being  received  at  the  house  he  had  named, 
they  were  never  afterwards  recovered,  although  upon  subsequent  investigation, 
when  the  checks  proved  worthless,  it  was  found  that  he  was  utterly  unknown  on 
the  premises.  A  little  shrewder  game  was  played  by  the  fellow  who  paid  for  his 
purchase  with  a  check  which  was  taken  without  question,  as  the  dealer  saw  that  it 
was  certified.  But  when  it  came  back  bearing  the  distressing  words  "  No  funds,'* 
the  dealer  opened  his  eyes  wide  enough  to  see  that  the  certification  was  one  of 
the  most  shallow  devices  by  which  a /fool  and  his  money  had  ever  been  parted. 
The  check  purported  to  be  drawn  by  the  secretary  of  a  company,  and  the  cer- 
tification was  by  the  cashier  of  the  same  company,  with  the  word  cashier  made 
prominent  in  a  large  round  hand,  while  the  initials  of  the  company  underneath  at 
a  hasty  glance  looked  like  a  mere  flourish  of  the  pen.  These  are  only  two  illus- 
trations out  of  thousands  which  might  be  given  showing  how  the  skinners  oper- 
ate in  worthless  checks. 

Another  method  which  the  skinner  has  adopted  for  making  his  way  in  the 
world,  while  creditable  to  his  ingenuity,  is  a  great  annoyance  to  the  mercantile 
community.  Keeping  an  eye  constantly  open  for  the  main  chance,  he  discovers  that 
some  quiet  firm  which  is  doing  a  snug  business  without  making  an)'  fuss  about 
it,  has  thereby,  and  by  virtue  of  years  of  probity,  secured  the  confidence  of  a 
large  circle  of  customers.  These  are  advantages  which  the  skinner  could  never 
acquire  for  himself,  and  he  is  tlierefore  forced  to  appropriate  those  gathered  by 
others.  He  prints  business  cards  and  circulars  bearing  the  name  of  the  respect- 
able firm,  and,  although  never  giving  the  same  location,  generally  selects  the  same 
street.  This  done,  he  has  his  immediate  future  secured  ;  for  he  goes  out  boldly 
and  buys  goods  on  short  time  in  the  name,  say,  of  Smith  &  Co.,  Water  street. 
Inquiries  are  of  course  made  by  the  seller  of  the  Mercantile  Agency,  where  the 
firm  is  declared  to  be,  as  it  is,  first  class,  and  the  goods  are  delivered.  Some- 
times the  skinner  has  them  delivered  for  shipment,  and  they  go  off"  to  another 


"SKINNERS."  8i 

city,  where  they  are  sold  and  the  proceeds  are  in  his  pocket  before  tlie  cheat  is 
discovered.  But  oftener  he  takes  the  chance  of  disposing  of  the  goods  in  New 
York,  in  which  case  the  cartman  who  takes  them  from  the  store  of  tlie  seller 
dumps  them  upon  some  pier,  from  whence  they  are  taken  away  by  another  cart- 
man,  and  all  trace  of  them  is  thus  lost.  In  this  way  many  skinners  contrive  to 
do  a  thriving  business  year  after  year  without  detection  ;  and  some  of  them,  even 
bolder,  send  circulars  through  the  country  and  advertise  in  rural  newspapers, 
by  which  means  they  get  consignments  of  produce  from  farmers,  and  of  course 
never  make  a  return,  nor  can  they  be  found  when  the  duped  shipper,  as  he  al- 
ways does  at  last,  comes  to  the  city  to  hunt  up  his  correspondent.  This  knavery 
is  so  adroitly  managed  that  in  many  cases  the  skinner  actually  pays  advances 
on  consignments  ;  but  as  it  is  always  only  a  small  per  cent,  of  the  value,  it  will 
be  readily  seen  that  he  takes  no  chance  of  losing  his  margins  by  the  operation. 
By  these  devices,  calculated  to  deceive  men  of  ordinary  prudence  and  caution, 
be  has  done  a  most  thriving  trade,  and  almost  undermined  public  confidence  in 
commercial  integrity.  Not  content  with  this,  he  further  extracts  profit  from  his 
bogus  character  by  issuing  notes  of  the  business  house  whose  name  he  has  as- 
sumed, and  readily  gets  them  shaved  by  the  less  reputable  bill-discounters. 

In  none  of  his  specialties  does  the  skinner  display  more  ingenuity  or 
reap  a  greater  reward  than  in  his  insurance  frauds.  His  simplest  method  is  to 
constitute  himself  the  agent  of  a  company  which  has  no  existence  ;  but  his  genius 
never  appears  until  he  appoints  himself  the  president  of  a  first-class  company. 
In  this  case  he  must  have  a  confederate  in  a  distant  city,  where  the  insuring  is 
done,  and  he,  being  fully  provided  with  facsimiles  of  the  blanks  of  the  company, 
approves  the  policies  by  mail,  and  writes  frequent  letters  of  commendation  to 
the  agent,  which  secure  that  swindler  public  confidence  in  the  community 
where  the  operations  are  being  carried  on.  If  small  fires  occur,  the  confederates 
promptly  pay  the  loss  and  work  the  mine  they  have  opened  until  a  large  confla- 
gration comes,  when  they  invariably  do  not.  Cases  are  upon  record  where  as 
much  as  $30,000  was  made  in  a  few  months  by  skinners  working  in  pairs,  and 
there  are  numerous  instances  where  smaller  amounts  have  been  purloined  ;  and 
in  no  one  of  these  cases  was  the  swindler  ever  brought  to  justice.  Yet  another 
fraud  in  this  line  is  when  the  skinner  declares  himself  an  insurance  company, 
and  floods  the  country  with  his  circulars,  offering  everybody  agencies  on  the 
most  favorable  terms.  An  extensive  correspondence  is  certain  to  ensue,  and  the 
applicants  finally  discover  that  to  reap  the  fortunes  reserved  for  the  agents  of 
this  prosperous  company,  it  is  an  essential  prerequisite  that  they  shall  be  mem- 
bers of  the  "National  Bureau  of  Agencies,"  the  entrance  fee  of  which  is  $50. 
The  bureau  is  only  another  skinner,  but  the  whole  affair  is  so  adroitly  managed 
that  no  suspicion  of  collusion  is  raised,  and  very  many  persons  in  all  parts  of 
the  United  States,  but  especially  in  the  West,  have  paid  this  $50  at  the  close  of 
their  relations  with  both  company  and  bureau,  for  after  that  payment  they  never 
find  the  faintest  trace  of  either.  This  swindle  has  been  worked  extensively  by 
advertising  for  agents  as  well  as  by  circular,  and  principally  in  the  name  of  the 
State  Fire  and  Marine  Insurance  Company  of  Boston,  with  Daniel  Mills  &  Co., 
at  Chicago,  as  the  National  Bureau  of  Agencies.  But  it  has  been  done  in  the 
names  of  other  companies  in  all  parts  of  the  countrj',  and,  having  been  only  re- 
cently devised,  will  answer  for  the  plucking  of  fools  for  a  long  time  yet,  not- 
withstanding the  thorough  exposure  it  has  had. 

Only  a  few  of  the  chief  means  of  the  skinner  for  wheedling  the  unwary  have 
been  described,  but  space  will  only  allow  of  a  brief  mention  of  some  of  the  other 


82  THE  NETHER  SIDE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

more  common  devices.  One  of  these,  wliich  is  rarel}'  practised,  and  never  at- 
tempted but  by  the  most  accomplished  of  tlie  skinners,  is  to  form  a  partnership 
with  a  reputable  broker,  and,  after  a  few  brilliant  days  in  Wall  street,  suddenly 
decamp  with  the  assets  of  the  firm.  One  such  case  occurred  not  long  ago,  and 
it  was  at  once  one  of  the  most  amusing  and  mournful  of  financial  incidents. 
The  tragical  aspect  of  the  case  was  the  ruin  of  a  most  worthy  broker,  who  had 
amassed  a  small  fortune  by  years  of  honest  dealing  ;  but  no  one  could  help  laugh- 
ing, even  with  this  woful  result  before  him,  at  hearing  how  implicitly  all  the  state- 
ments of  the  skinner  had  been  believed  by  his  partner  and  the  banks,  and  how 
entirely  he  had  been  trusted  by  both.  In  comparison  with  these  achievements  of 
tlie  skinners,  their  tricks  as  bogus  employment  agents  and  collectors  seem  mean 
and  trivial,  but  they  nevertheless  derive  much  substantial  solace  from  tliem. 
When,  however,  they  are  driven  to  these  resorts,  they  degenerate  into  confi- 
dence operators,  and  are  unworthy  of  detailed  mention  in  this  resji/ne  oi  i\\Q  mir- 
acles daily  wrought  by  tlie  most  insidious,  successful,  industrious,  and  adroit  of 
modern  rogues. 

Improvements  in  the  appliances  of  the  law  for  the  detection  and  prevention 
of  crime  have  not  kept  pace  with  the  improved  devices  of  the  criminal  to  evade 
them  ;  and  it  is  not  therefore  surprising  that  the  skinners  year  after  year  become 
more  greedy  in  their  depredations  upon  the  public,  and  rarely  suffer  the 
penalties  prescribed  by  the  law  for  their  misdeeds.  Crime  must  be  proved  before 
it  can  be  punished,  and  none  is  so  difficult  to  prove  as  the  obtaining  of  property  by 
trick  and  device,  or  by  fraudulent  representations,  even  when  committed  by 
tyros  ;  but  when  done  by  such  adepts  as  the  skinners,  it  is  almost  impossible  to 
obtain  the  needful  evidence.  The  best  the  law  can  do  is  to  warn  the  unwary  of 
their  dangers  ;  and  this  has  been  done  by  making  Wall  street  a  special  field  of 
detective  labor.  Two  of  the  experienced  officers  of  the  Central  Detective  Office 
are  detailed  for  duty  there  every  day,  and  the  Board  of  Brokers  have  in  addi- 
tion employed  Mr.  Thomas  Sampson,  one  of  the  most  adroit  men  in  his  busi- 
ness, for  general  police  duty.  The  street  also  has  nearly  the  whole^time  of  Mr. 
William  G.  Elder,  well  known  for  many  years  as  one  of  the  most  skilful  and  suc- 
cessful detectives  in  the  country.  Many  of  the  leading  banks  also  keep  a  spe- 
cial officer  appointed  by  the  Commissioners  of  Police  constantly  on  duty  in  their 
offices  during  business  hours  for  their  own  protection.  No  harm  is  done  the 
public,  for  tlie  banks  pay  the  salaries  of  the  men  thus  monopolized.  The  detec- 
tives and  some  of  the  special  officers  know  many  of  the  skinners  by  sight,  and  ex- 
pel them  without  much  ceremony,  and  with  no  legal  right,  from  any  business  circle 
in  wiiich  they  are  encountered  under  circumstances  warranting  a  suspicion  tliat 
they  have  game  afoot.  But  the  fraternity  being  thicker  in  Wall  street,  as  one 
of  the  detectives  informed  me,  than  "fleas  on  a  dog's  back,"  and  the  detectives 
few,  the  work  of  swindling  still  goes  on  quite  prosperously.  Though  the  detec- 
tives harry  them  to  the  extent  of  their  ability,  yet  the  skinners  thrive  ;  nor  will 
any  amount  of  police  protection  wiiich  it  is  possible  to  extend  serve  to  extermi- 
nate theni,  so  long  as  it  is  unaided  by  the  prudence  of  the  general  public.  The 
day  of  the  skinners  has  been  a  long  one,  and  it  will  last  until  men  with  tnoney 
back  it  with  brains  enough  to  take  no  man  on  his  own  representations,  and  to 
avoid  the  plausible  stranger  as  they  would  the  plague.  In  law  every  man  is  in- 
nocent until  he  is  proved  guilty  ;  but  the  neophyte  venturing  into  Wall  street 
must  assume  every  man  to  be  a  knave  until  he  proves  himself  by  the  most  posi- 
tive testimony  to  be  honest,  or  he  is  very  sure,  by  fiiUing  among  thieves,  to  be  a 
sorrowful  proof  that  history  repeats  itself 


«  FENCES." 


BECAUSE  of  the  raxlty  of  the  experience,  there  is  a  substantial  jjleasure  in 
looking  over  a  metropolitan  newspaper  without  seeing  an  advertisement 
ike  this  r 

(IJ/rn  REWARD.— LOST,  ON  SATURDAY 
iPJU  evenijig,  on  board  the  Plymouth  Kock 
for  Long  Branch,  a  Diamond  Chister  Pin. 
The  above  reAvard  will  be  paid  and  no  ques- 
tions asked  if  returned  to  N . 

The  above  is  copied  verbatim,  excepting  the  address.  If  the  advertiser 
had  more  lionesty  and  less  transparent  cunning,  he  would  plainly  say  wliat 
he  means,  and  publicly  declare  that  for  the  sake  of  regaining  his  proj^erty 
he  is  ready  not  only  to  forgive  the  thief  who  stole  it,  but  to  pay  him  liber- 
ally for  his  trouble.  Or  if,  as  is  generally  the  case,  his  valuables  liave  already 
passed  beyond  the  thief,  he  notifies  the  "  fence  "  who  may  have  them  that  he 
is  anxious  to  negotiate  witli  him  on  the  most  liberal  terms  and  without  attempt- 
ing to  intrude  upon  the  mysteries  of  his  calling. 

Such  advertisements  as  this  constitute  the  only  direct  evidence  wliich  the 
general  public  ever  gets  of  the  existence  and  methods  of  business  of  the  un- 
scrupulous middlemen,  without  wliom  thievery  would  be  unprofitable  and 
speedily  become  a  lost  art.  Known  in  the  dialect  of  crime  as  "  fences,"  they 
have  a  name  as  significant  as  it  is  pitliy,  and  so  ai:)propriate  that  it  has  been 
adopted  by  Webster  in  the  meaning  which  outlaws  found,  and  h;is  ceased  to  bo 
slang.  Receivers  and  traffickers  in  stolen  goods,  it  is  their  function  to  guard  the 
plunder  taken  by  thieves  until  it  can  be  worked  back  into  the  channels  of  legit- 
imate trade.  A  professional  thief  witli  a  great  quantity  of  stolen  silks  upon  liis 
hands  is  poor  indeed.  He  cannot  take  them  into  the  open  market,  for  reputa- 
ble merchants  are  inquisitive  as  to  whom  they  are  dealing  with;  he  cannot  of- 
fer them  in  small  lots  at  a  great  bargain  without  awakening  suspicion  of  tlio 
means  by  which  he  obtained  them.  He  must  find  some  one  who  is  not  known 
as  a  tliief,  who  has  the  means  of  converting  his  booty  into  money,  and  that 
some  one  is  the  receiver.  In  New  York,  as  in  all  other  gi'eat  commercia. 
cities,  at  the  present  time  as  in  the  past,  the  axiom  of  the  law  tliat  "  the  re- 
ceiver is  as  bad  as  the  thief"  is  daily  proved  to  be  strictly  true.  In  fact,  it 
might  be  sliown  that  the  receiver,  who  is  the  manufacturer  of  tliieves,  is  worse 
than  his  product.  Being  in  a  double  sense  preyers  upon  mankind,  skulking  as 
they  do  behind  technicalities  of  the  law,  so  that  their  crimes  rarely  receive  tho 
punishment  they  deserve,  mean  beyond  all  other  classes  of  outlaws,  cheating 
rogues  and  honest  men  alike,  ready  to  turn  an  infamous  penny  by  dickeiing 
with  detectives  for  the  return  of  stolen  goods,  willing  to  betivay  their  most  inti- 
mate associates  or  the  whole  brotherhood  of  crime  to  secure  their  own  safety, 
it  is  evident  that  there  are  no  criminals  more  deserving  of  imblic  attention  iJiaii 
these  fences,  without  whom  the  rogues  would  be  an  army  without  arms. 

In  no  way  can  the  needed  light  be  poured  upon  these  knaves  so  clearly  aa 
by  the  mention  of  names  and  places.  In  dealing  with  nearly  all  the  otlier 
classes  of  criminals  I  have  not  descended  to  these  details,  only  because  I  did  not 
believe  it  necessary  for  my  purpose;  but  the  fences  can  be  handled  eflectiially 
in  no  other  way.     I  must  even  go  back  a  few  years,  and  resurrect  from  the 


84  THE  NETHER  SIDE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

gj-ave  where  he  has  long  mouldered  the  most  successful,  adroit,  and  daring 
fence  known  to  the  police  annals  of  the  city.  Joe  Erich  in  1855,  and  for  a  few 
years  l^efore,  was  the  most  extensive  dealer  in  stolen  property  on  this  continent, 
if  not  in  the  world.  Located  in  Maiden  Lane,  then  as  uoav  in  the  business  heart 
of  the  city,  this  man  was  kno\\n  and  sought  by  all  the  thieves  not  only  of  the 
city  but  of  the  whole  country.  Bujing  anything  from  a  pennj^  dip  to  the  most 
costly  cases  of  silks,  to  this  man  came  such  famous  marauders  as  Jack  Spratt, 
Jack  Adams  (both  dead  long  ago),  Tom  Gordon,  Tom  Kelly,  Jim  Brady,  Bow- 
legged  Moore,  Jim  Sullivan,  Johnny  Miller,  Jim  Painter,  Amos  Leeds  (Avho 
was  happily  killed  while  blowing  a  safe).  Old  Bill  Smith,  Dick  Collard,  and  Old 
Jack  Cooper,  who  abandoned  the  i:>reaehing  of  the  Gospel  to  join  these  first- 
class  burglars,  and  became  one  of  the  most  noted  and  daring  of  them  all.  All 
of  these  men  were  regular  customers  of  Erich,  and  to  him  they  took  the  pro- 
ceeds of  the  most  extensive  burglaries  committed  for  a  long  series  of  years 
throughout  the  countiy.  He  became  I'ich  enough  to  defy  the  law,  and  although 
arrested  many  times  was  never  convicted,  and  died  at  last  without  rendering 
society  an  equivalent  for  his  enormous  gains,  Avliich  went  as  easily  as  they 
came,  so  that  he  was  left  poor  at  last. 

While  he  flourished  he  did  not  entirely  monopolize  the  business  of  conduct- 
ing the  ti'affic  which  is  constantly  going  on  between  thieves  and  honest  men. 
Even  when  he  was  at  his  prime  Ephraim  Snow,  better  known  in  police  annals 
as  "Old  Snow,"  was  established  at  the  corner  of  Allen  and  Grand  streets, 
where  he  kept  a  complete  assortment  of  every  variety  of  stolen  goods,  which 
he  purchased  from  the  same  plunderers  who  patronized  Erich.  Less  fortunate 
than  that  trader,  Snow's  career  ended  in  disaster,  as  he  was  convicted  of  the 
crime  he  was  constantly  committing,  and  sentencod  to  a  term  of  five  years'  im- 
prisonment. Another  of  the  notable  fences  of  the  day  was  Webber,  in  Pearl 
street,  who,  after  a  long  and  jjrosperous  career,  was  visited  one  evening  by  De- 
tective McCord  while  he  was  in  the  act  of  placing  a  large  lot  of  household  sil- 
ver in  the  crucible  to  be  melted  into  an  undistinguishable  mass.  The  fii'st  re- 
sult of  the  visit  was  the  discovery  of  the  proceeds  of  twenty-five  burglaries  in 
the  house  of  Webber,  and  its  second  to  send  that  operator  into  protracted  seclu- 
sion in  a  prison. 

These  few  notable  persons  are  named  merely  to  show  that  the  business  of 
receiving  stolen  goods  is  no  new  thing,  and  as  introducing  their  more  numer- 
ous successors.  To-day  there  are  scores  of  fences  in  New  York,  and  one  of  the 
best  known  among  them  is  Michael  Grady,  called  by  his  customers  and  the  po- 
lice ♦'  Travelling  Mike,"  who  appears  to  the  public  as  an  inoffensive  pedtller  iu 
a  particularly  bad  streak  of  luck,  as  he  is  never  seen  to  make  any  sales,  but 
who  is  in  fact  a  "walking  fence."  With  his  peddler-box  suspended  fi-om  his 
shoulder  he  drops  in  almost  daily  xipon  the  pickpockets  and  house  thieves  in 
their  haunts,  and  if  they  are  i^ossessod  of  any  such  trifles  as  watches,  i)iiis,  jew- 
els, or  wearing  apparel  picked  up  in  Uieir  rambles  during  tlie  previous  night, 
"  Travelling  ^like  "  is  almost  certain  to  travel  ofi"  with  them  without  leaving 
more  than  a  third  of  their  value  behind  liim.  A  thief  is  alwaj'S  ini])atient  to 
turn  his  phmder  into  money,  but  he  is  doubly  so  when  it  is  i^ersonal  i)roperty 
that  can  be  easily  identifiod  by  the  owner;  and  nobody  knows  better  than 
"Travelling  Mike"  that  he  will  snap  eagerly  at  the  first  offer  made  by  some 
one  known  to  all  the  prowling  fraternity  as  one  who  can  be  trusted.  This  walk- 
ing fence  has  obtained  almost  a  monopoly  of  the  more  i)ort.able  plunder  of  such 
eminent  pickpockets  and  sneaks  as  Dutch  Heinrich,  Sheeny  Mike,  Billy  Dar- 


"  FENCES."  85 

rigan,  Tom  Murphy,  "Big  Nose  Bunker,"  Tom  Biglow,  Jim  Dolan,  Johnny 
McCarty,  "  The  Doctor,"  Maurice  Harris,  Joe  Butts,  Tim  O'Brien,  Joe  Key- 
ser,  Dublin  George,  and  Tommy  Moore,  all  of  whom  continue  to  ply  their  vo- 
cation as  pickpockets  or  sneak  thieves  without  much  molestation  from  the  law. 
Heinrich  does  occasionally  get  into  jail,  but  he  speedily  gets  out  again  in  soma 
marvellous  way  not  understood  by  the  general  public,  and  immediately  resumes 
tlie  practice  of  his  art.  Lately  he  was  sent  for  by  Superintendent  Kelso,  who 
told  him  he  must  keep  off  the  street  cars ;  but  Heinrich  answered,  "  Veil,  mustn't 
a  man  leeve?  "  and  went  off  to  resume  his  general  transfer  business  of  watches 
from  other  people's  pockets  to  his  own.  Another  of  these  wortliies,  Joe  Butts, 
lately  attempted  a  daring  midday  robbery  in  Broadway,  and  is  in  jail,  with  a 
pleasant  prospect  of  staying  there  for  some  time  to  come ;  but  as  a  general 
thing  all  these  marauders  are  constantly  on  hand  to  contribute  to  the  coffers  of 
"  Travelling  Mike." 

Although  he  is  the  only  walking  fence  of  any  note.  Travelling  Mike  by 
no  means  absorbs  all  of  the  property  stolen  in  New  York.  There  are  many 
fences  whose  names,  locations,  and  customers  are  well  known  to  the  police, 
and  who  have  for  years  carried  on  this  nefarious  business  so  adroitly  that  they 
have  scarcely  been  molested.  Among  them  is  "  Old  linger,"  the  chosen  of 
the  shop-lifters,  who  keeps  in  Eldridge  street,  and  to  whom  Hyman,  Nelly 
Flowers,  Mrs.  Taylor,  Mrs.  Palmer,  Maggy  Erich,  Big  Sarah  Cox,  Mrs.  Leon, 
Leon  the  Kid,  Mrs.  Coffee,  Mother  Roach,  Nellie  Lee,  Bill  Dums,  and  other  of 
the  more  skilful  and  prosperous  outlaws  who  pilfer  stores  while  pretending  to 
buy,  have  sold  the  gi-eater  portion  of  their  plunder.  Some  of  these  are  now, 
however,  doing  the  State  some  service ;  for  it  does  occasionally  happen,  even 
in  New  York,  that  a  professional  thief  gets  into  prison.  A  striking  example 
was  afforded  lately  by  Nellie  Flowers,  whom  Detective  Farley  haj^pened  to 
see  riding  in  a  Broadway  stage,  and,  without  knowledge  of  any  specific  crime 
she  had  committed,  took  her  out  of  the  veliicle.  It  so  chanced  that  the  pocket 
of  a  gentleman  in  the  stage  had  been  rifled,  and  there  was  a  probability  that 
Nellie  had  helj^ed  herself  to  his  valuables.  There  was  no  positive  evidence 
to  change  this  probability  to  a  certainty,  but  bad  character  went  a  long  way 
with  the  jury,  and  the  dashing  prisoner,  Avho  had  something  of  fascination  in 
her  personal  appearance,  was  convicted,  and  is  now  in  Sing  Sing  prison.  Such 
mishaps  as  this,  however,  rarely  overtake  professional  thieves,  and  no  one  was 
more  profoundly  astonished  by  the  result  in  this  case  than  the  detective  who 
made  the  arrest. 

Another  notorious  fence  is  Rosenburg,  familiarly  known  to  detectives 
and  thieves  as  "Rosey,"  who  formerly  covered  his  knavery  by  the  pretence  of 
a  jewelry  store  in  the  Bowery  near  Chatliam  street,  but  afterward  emigi'ated 
up  that  thoroughfiu'e  and  located  himself  near  Houston  street,  almost  under  the 
shadow  of  Police  Headquarters.  I  have  the  authority  of  Mr.  Kelso,  the  present 
Sui^erintendent  of  the  New  York  Police,  for  saying  that  Rosey  in  his  day  has 
been  a  "regular  Fagin."  In  addition  to  the  training  of  neophytes  in  the  jiur- 
loining  art,  he  dealt  largely  with  experienced  thieves,  and  counted  Scotch  Jack, 
Dave  Bartlett,  Tony  Maguire,  Rory  Sims,  Sukey  Backus,  George  Williams, 
Phil  Brady,  Scotch  Jimmy,  and  other  first-class  cracksmen  among  his  cus- 
tomers. If  Rosey  had  a  weakness,  it  was  for  fabrics  that  combined  small  bulk 
with  large  value.  He  was  inordinately  fond  of  silks  in  a  business  Avay,  and 
ready  at  all  times  to  buy  such  "  swags  "  on  reasonable  terms.  Goldstein,  in 
Spring  street,  is  another  particular  person,  as  he  buys  chiefly  fi'om  house  thieveii 


86  THE  NETHER  SIDE  OF  NEW  YORK 

Buch  light  articles  as  can  be  picked  up  during  a  hasty  visit  to  a  dwelling  while 
the  ownei-  is  asleep  or  absent.  Onco  Goldstein  got  into  the  trouble  which  the 
police  call  being  "  got  dead  to  rights,"  by  which  they  mean  being  detected  in 
a  crime  under  circumstances  which  afford  suflicient  evidence  to  secure  a  con- 
viction. Goldstein  undertook  a  speculation  in  some  Immau  hair  wliich  had 
parted  from  its  rightful  owner  as  well  as  the  original  scalp,  and  he  was 
arrested  with  full  proof  of  his  offence  in  the  hands  of  the  officers ;  but  I  never 
heard  that  he  suffered  severely  in  consequence :  these  fellows  i-arely  do  even 
when  they  are  "  got  dead  to  rights."  Very  different  from  Rosenburg  and  Gold- 
stein is  Joluison,  in  the  Bowery  near  Riviugton  street,  who  is  said  bj^  j\lr.  Kelso  to 
be  probably  the  most  extensive  dealer  in  stolen  goods  hi  the  country  at  the  pres- 
ent time.  He  has  no  specialty,  except  that  he  must  buy  at  prices  wliich  will 
pay  him  a  large  profit.  He  is  always  ready  to  baxter  for  anything  and  every- 
thing, without  the  inconvenient  formality  of  inquiring  as  to  the  antecedents 
of  his  customers.  Many  of  them,  however,  he  knows  intimately,  and  among 
them  are  Peppermint  Joe,  Jim  Brady,  George  Love,  Fred  Larther,  and  Charley 
Eberhardt,  first-class  burglars;  Jack  Sheppard,  Avho  maintains  the  traditional 
glories  of  his  name  by  being  the  most  daring  and  expert  cart  thief  alive; 
Spence  Pettis,  Jimmy  the  Kid,  Shyster  McLaughlin,  general  sneaks ;  and  many 
others  of  less  note.  From  these  and  chance  sneaks  who  occasionally  make  illicit 
forays  upon  property,  Johnson  gathers  an  immense  amount  of  jjlunder  every 
year,  and  works  it  back  safely  and  expeditiously,  and  with  the  return  of  huge 
profits  to  himself,  into  the  channels  of  legitimate  trade. 

While  Jolmson  may  be  the  most  extensive  dealer  in  stolen  goods,  he  is  by 
no  means  the  most  artistic  fence  in  New  York.  He  is  a  mere  ti'ader,  but 
William  Brandon,  in  Broadway  near  Eighth  street,  is  an  artist  in  evil.  He 
proves  his  superiority  over  his  more  grovelling  fellows  by  his  location,  if  by 
notliing  else.  While  they  are  content  to  burrow  in  side  streets  or  second-class 
thoroughfares,  he  boldly  establishes  himself  in  the  fiishionable  promenade  and 
business  arteiy  of  the  metropolis.  And  he  declares  his  higher  aims  and  methods 
in  every  other  way — in  his  person,  manners,  and  surroundings.  Passing  up 
deserted  Broadway  on  a  Sabbath  with  a  friend,  we  met  a  carriage  containing 
a  party  of  distinguishc-d  appearance.  Two  were  women,  two  men,  and  of  the 
latter,  one  apparently  a  gentleman  of  high  breeding.  He  was  certainly  a  fine- 
looking  man,  with  long,  .silky  auburn  beard,  clear  comj^lexion,  a  clear  eye, 
and  regular  features.  lie  was  dressed  witli  all  the  elegance  that  ample  means 
and  good  taste  can  command,  and  he  was  evidently  on  excellent  terms  with 
himself  and  the  world,  for  he  chatted  gayly  but  decorously  with  his  compan- 
ions. "  That,"  said  my  companion,  "  is  Brandon  the  fence."  There  Avas 
so  much  of  gentlemanly  completeness  in  the  presence  of  the  man  that  it  w^as 
difficult  to  imagine  that  he  had  ever  stood  at  the  bar  of  justice  charged  Avith 
the  meanest  of  all  the  crimes  against  property.  Yet  I  knew  Avell  enough  that 
he  was  another  of  those  marvellous  outlaws  who  are  "  got  dead  to  rights  " 
without  incurring  any  of  tlie  penalties  of  the  law,  and  several  cases  strongly 
illustrative  of  the  miraculous  fixct  passed  through  my  mind.  Almost  every 
detective  in  the  force  has  had  to  do  with  him  at  one  time  or  another,  but 
he  has  slipiied  through  the  fingers  of  all  of  them  with  equal  skill  and  safety. 
Once  Woolridgehad  him  for  $3,000  worth  of  kid  gloves,  but  there  was  a  de- 
fect in  the  evidence  and  Brandon  beat  the  law.  Once  Farley  arrested  him 
for  receiving  some  valuable  diamonds  which  had  been  stolen,  and  he  was  held 
to  bail  for  "  examination,"  but  that  was  the  last  of  the  case.     At  another  time 


"  FENCES."  87 

Reilley,  another  detective,  got  him  for  faro  checks  and  other  gambling  imple- 
ments, worth  $600,  stolen  by  burglars  from  720  Broadway;  but  it  was  held  that 
such  articles  are  not  property,  and  the  receiver  got  out  of  the  scrape.  The 
same  oilicer  took  him  again  for  receiving  a  large  lot  of  silk  umbrellas,  stolen 
by  burglars  from  097  Broadway;  but  there  were  no  private  marks  upon  the 
artieUis,  the  property  could  not  be  proven,  and  the  receiver  proved  again 
triumphant. 

But  it  is  useless  to  multiply  these  citations  to  prove  a  fact  which  cannot 
be  disputed.  Brandon  does  indeed  claim  to  be  a  dealer  in  general  miscellanies, 
but  he  will  also  admit  tha,t  he  is  ready  to  buy  anything  under  any  circumstances 
if  he  (^an  make  a  profit  on  the  transaction.  The  detectives  know,  if  he  does 
not,  that  man}'  of  the  most  adroit  burglars,  pickpockets,  and  house  thieves  in 
tlie  city  sell  their  j^lunder  to  him  regularly;  and  they  know,  if  lie  does  not,  that 
he  regularly  buys  and  sells  whatever  they  may  offer.  A  gentleman  who  is 
anxious  to  recover  his  watch  without  the  trouble  of  attempting  to  punish  the 
thief  who  stole  it,  has  only  to  insert  such  an  advertisement  as  I  have  quoted  in 
this  article  to  speedily  trace  it  to  Brandon,  and  regain  it  on  comparatively  fa- 
vorable terms;  for  the  gentlemanly  dealer  is  not  a  "sheenj^,"  but  a  devout  be- 
liever in  the  fine  old  maxim  of  "  live  and  let  live."  In  the  prosecution  of  his 
business  upon  these  principles  he  has  several  times  been  so  unfortunate  as  to 
be  arraigned  before  police  courts,  where  he  has  invariably  assumed  virtues 
which  he  has  not,  and  put  on  the  semblance  of  injured  innocence  with  remarka- 
ble cft":-ontery  and  success.  I  have  never  heard  that  he  has  threatened  legal  pro- 
ceedings for  being  called  a  fence,  but  I  should  not  be  surprised  at  any  time 
to  find  him  advertising  his  peculiar  industry  by  such  means.  Seeming  to  believe 
that  it  is  impossible  to  punish  nuj  knave  af  ordmary  adroitness  for  the  crime 
of  dealing  in  stolen  property,  he  makes  no  secret  of  his  readiness  to  buj'  any- 
thing which  may  be  tendered  to  him,  and  by  his  demeanor  in  his  transactions 
flippantly  asks  the  officers  what  they  can  do  about  it.  The  police  are  puzzled 
for  an  answer. 

Next  to  Brandon,  in  the  aid  and  comfort  extended  to  thievery,  are  the 
Mandelbaums,  located  at  Rivington  and  Clinton  streets.  Here  is  a  family  of 
four  brothers,  named  Wolf,  Joel,  Hirsch,  and  David,  exclusively  engaged  in 
the  buying  and  selling  of  stolen  goods ;  and  nothing  shows  more  strongly  the 
entire  safety  with  which  this  nefarious  business  can  be  carried  on  than  the  fact 
that  their  being  thus  engaged  is,  and  has  been  for  years,  well  known  at  300  Mul- 
berry street.  It  is  known  there  also  that  Wolf,  who  is  a  lawyer  and  a  man 
of  brains,  is  the  general  director  of  the  concern,  that  all  of  them  are  adroit 
knaves,  and  that  their  principal  customei's  are  such  unscruiwlous  pe;-sons  as 
"Black  Lena,"  "Big  Mary,"  Lizzie  Stevens,  the  Pedigers — husband  and 
wife — Mrs.  Kleinschmidt,  French  Louis,  Charley  Rothschild,  Black  Joe,  Fred 
Schultz,  and  Matilda  Hildebrand.  That  some  of  the  Mandelbaums  have  been 
"  got  dead  to  rights  "  is  a  certainty,  and  that  all  of  them  constantly  deserve 
to  be  in  that  unpleasant  dilemma  cannot  be  questioned.  They  are  of  the 
class  that  will  buy  j'our  household  plate  Avithout  a  qualm,  from  the  thief  who 
steals  it,  and  within  the  hour  melt  it  into  an  undistinguishable  mass  of  sil- 
ver, and  thus  place  it  forever  beyond  the  hope  of  recovery.  They  will  buj 
the  costly  dresses  of  j^our  wives  and  daughters  at  a  ridiculously  low  figure, 
and  in  a  twinkling  so  alter  them  that  the  foir  owners  would  gaze  longingly 
upon  them,  but  never  dare  to  swear  to  them.  They  will  ruthlessly  tear  your 
diamonds  from  their  settings,  and  dare  you  to  identify  them  as  your  property. 


88  THE  NETHER  SIDE  OF  XEAV  YORK. 

They  will  ofTer  to  sell  you  pieces  of  goods  stolen  from  your  own  store,  and  if 
you  hint  as  much,  their  lawyer  comes  down  upon  you  Avith  virtuous  indignation, 
and  having  made  you  confess  that  thousands  of  just  such  pieces  ai"e  manufac- 
tured every  year,  wondei's  how  any  Christian  can  find  it  in  his  conscience  to 
swear  that  this  j^articular  jjiece  is  stolen  property.  Your  trade-mark  having 
been  removed,  you  do  not  swear,  nor  do  you  buy,  but  you  do  not  recover  your 
own.  There  is  nothing,  indeed,  in  the  way  of  bartering  in  the  jjlunder  of  thieves 
which  the  Mandelbaums  cannot  and  do  not  do.  In  the  practice  of  their  arts 
they  have  rivals  in  all  who  have  been  mentioned  and  many  besides,  some  of 
whom  are  of  considerable  note. 

"  General "  Grenthal  is  of  great  renown  as  a  fence,  and  has  incurred 
more  perhajjs  of  detective  attention  than  any  of  his  comjjauions ;  but  I  cannot 
find  an}'  reason  for  the  fact,  unless  it  be  that  he  trades  with  all  the  thieves  who 
have  been  mentioned,  and  trace  of  missing  trifles  can  more  often  be  had  through 
him  than  in  any  other  way. 

There  is  another  receiver  entitled  to  mention,  not  so  much  because  of 
the  extent  or  variety  of  his  operations  as  for  the  penalty  he  has  paid  for  what 
he  has  done.  Known  to  the  police  as  "  Little  Alexander,"  and  by  no  otlier  name, 
he  is  entitled  to  the  rare  distinction  of  having  "  done  time,"  by  which  ])hrase 
the  detectives  who  love  to  speak  in  riddles  do  not  mean  that  he  has  swindled 
Time,  but  that  he  has  served  a  term  in  Sing  Sing  prison. 

Besides  these  jwofessional  fences,  the  more  prominent  and  dangerous  of 
whom  have  been  mentioned,  there  are  many  occasional  dealers  in  stolen  goods 
who  practically  are  fences,  and  yet  do  not  exclusively  devote  themselves  to  the 
pursuit.  They  are  men  who  do  not  seek  such  business,  but  take  it  as  it  comes, 
and  never  defeat  a  good  bargain  by  impertinent  inquiries  as  to  the  title  of 
the  seller.  They  buy  chiefly  of  beginners  in  thievery,  from  dishonest  clerks  who 
cheat  their  employers  out  of  small  articles  of  stock ;  and  the  fact  that  ijoth  parties 
to  the  ti-ansaction  are  inexpei'ienced  in  the  "  ways  that  are  dark  "  is  probably 
the  reason  whyso  many  of  this  class  of  receivers  get  before  the  courts.  While 
it  is  extremely  rare  to  hear  of  any  one  of  the  great  fences  who  have  been  named 
being  brought  to  book,  it  often  hajipens  that  chance  dealers  in  purloined 
property  are  arraigned  before  the  police  magistrates;  and  it  is  almost  in- 
variable in  these  cases  that  the  booty  is  small,  and  has  been  obtained  from  a 
casual  thief.  Sometimes,  however,  it  is  quite  extensive,  as  when  lately  a  large 
quantity  of  kid  gloves,  which  liad  been  stolen  a  year  before  by  burglars  from  a 
large  importing  house,  was  found  in  the  shop  of  a  pawnbroker  with  the  original 
packages  unbroken.  In  this  ease  the  booty  had  undoubtedly  been  obtained 
from  professional  burglars,  so  that  it  was  in  every  way  an  exception  to  the 
general  rule. 

The  most  usual  customers  of  these  casual  receivers  are  clerks,  porters,  or 
ti-uckmen,  Avho  pilfer  from  the  goods  intrusted  to  their  care,  or  who  obtnin 
articles  from  tlie  Ijusiness  associates  of  their  employers;  as,  if  a  clerk  should 
go  to  a  house  with  which  his  master  is  in  the  habit  of  dealing,  and  order  a  bill 
on  account  of  his  employer,  and  take  the  goods  to  the  fence  and  sell  them 
on  his  own  account.  This  species  of  crime  is  of  daily  occurrence  and  of  as 
frequent  detection,  for  it  is  certain  sooner  or  later  to  be  discovered.  When  it 
is,  the  culprit  rarely  fails  to  make  an  open  confession  of  the  whole  matter, 
even  to  the  name  of  the  person  who  purchased  the  property  from  him.  It 
would  seem  that  tliese  are  cases  wliicli  miglit  be  prosecuted  to  conviction  of 
b<jth  thief  and  receiver,  but  that  desirable  result  is  not  often  achieved. 


FENCES." 


89 


In  addition  to  these  casual  receivers  there  is  another  class  of  dealers  in 
stolen  goods  that  may  be  approxsriatelj^  called  "  involuntary  fences."  There  is 
no  pawnbroker  and  but  few  jewellers  who  may  not  any  day  become  uncon- 
BcidvJljr,  and  innocently  enough,  receivers  of  stolen  goods.  Very  often  it  liap- 
pens  that  the  professional  thief  tires  of  the  professional  fences,  and  saunters 
into  the  shop  of  a  jeweller  to  offer  a  stolen  watch  for  sale.  In  such  case  he 
does  not  betray  the  flimsiuess  of  liis  title  by  either  eagerness  to  sell  or  readi- 
ness to  take  a  suspiciously  low  price.  He  pretends  indifference,  wants  some- 
tliing  very  near  the  true  value  of  tlie  article,  and  rarely  fails  to  get  it.  The 
jeweller  very  likely  passes  the  watch  on  in  the  course  of  trade  without  knowledge 
of  its  contraband  character,  and  saves  his  conscience ;  but  if  he  does  discover 
it,  the  watch  is  passed  on  with  perhaps  a  little  greater  speed  in  order  to  save 
his  pocket.  Pawnbrokers,  however,  are  more  frequently  the  victims  of  tliese 
speculative  tliieves.  There  is  not  a  day  that  many  of  them  are  not  worried  by 
the  visits  of  detectives  searcliing  for  stolen  property,  which  in  .very  many  cases 
is  found,  and  taken  without  regard  to  the  rights  of  the  jjawnbroker  in  the  mat- 
ter. He  always  clamors  for  the  amount  he  has  advanced  upon  the  article,  and 
if  he  shows  an  innocent  holdersliip  he  sometimes  gets  it ;  but  his  interests  are 
never  tlie  fu'st  consideration  with  tlie  detective,  who  must  recover  the  jiroperty 
to  have  even  a  chance  of  making  anything  out  of  the  transaction.  But  he  does 
for  tliat  reason  become  more  circumsiject  in  his  dealings.  Many  of  them  are 
entirely  indifferent  as  to  the  character  of  the  persons  with  whom  they  traffic, 
and  will  make  an  advance  to  a  known  thief  as  readily  as  to  any  one ;  and 
others,  who  would  prefer  not  to  have  such  customers,  are  too  careless  or  hur- 
ried to  avoid  them. 

It  may  be  safely  assumed  that  some  of  the  jjledges  in  the  pawnljroker  shop^l 
of  the  city  are  stolen  property,  and  it  is  more  certain  that  an  even  gi'eater 
part  of  all  watches  and  other  light  valuable  articles  bought  outriglit  by 
these  brokers  are  of  the  same  description.  The  tliief  usually  desires  to  part 
comjiany  utterly  with  his  plunder  for  several  reasons.  First,  he  never  ex- 
pects to  redeem  the  articles,  and  he  does  not  desire  the  recoid  of  the  trans- 
action which  a  loan  requires  to  stand  ui^on  the  books  as  ix)ssible  evidence 
against  him ;  but  what  is  stronger  with  him  than  either,  he  Avishes  to  avoid  the 
danger  of  having  the  pawn  tickets  upon  him.  It  might  be  supposed  that  this 
danger  could  be  destroyed  by  merely  destropng  the  tickets,  and  of  course  it 
could;  but  it  is  one  of  the  strangest  peculiarities  of  crime  that  tlie  felon  never 
thinks  of  this  simple  expedient.  Almost  invariably  pawn  tickets  representing 
tlie  booty  of  several  crimes  are  found  upon  tliieves  when  arrested.  On  the  day 
I  am  writing  a  noted  depredator  was  arraigned  before  one  of  the  police  courts, 
on  whose  person  no  less  than  twenty- seven  of  these  tell-tale  bits  of  paj)er  had 
been  found,  and  it  has  already  been  ascertained  that  they  represent  as  many 
ditierent  larcenies.  Great  bond  robbers  are  not  free  fi-om  the  weakness,  and 
the  fatality  with  Avhich  all  gi'ades  of  criminals  cling  to  these  scraps  of  paper, 
which  are  utterly  worthless  to  them,  is  as  inexplicable  as  it  is  amusing  to  the 
detectives.  It  is  nothing  marvellous  therefore  that  the  thief,  who  is  undoubted- 
ly aware  of  his  idiosyncrasy,  is  always  anxious  to  sell  rather  than  pledge  when 
he  resorts  to  the  pawnbroker  or  jeweller,  as  he  often  does  in  preference  to  the 
fence.  These  facts  are  stated  to  show  that  the  occasional  and  involuntary  re- 
ceivers of  stolen  goods  have  no  lack  of  temi^tation,  nor  do  these  dealers  evince 
much  less  of  conscience  than  some  persons  who  claim  to  be  beyond  rejjroach. 
fi?ot  long  since  I  heard  such  a  man  boasting  of  an  exploit  of  which  almost  any 


90  THE  XETHER  SIDE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

man  living  under  the  three  golden  balls  would  have  been  ashamed.  This  man 
was  aware  that  a  watch  of  a  certain  number  had  been  stolen  and  a  reward  tkf 
^100  oflered  for  its  recovery.  He  happened  to  be  in  the  shop  of  a  pawnbroker 
when  this  watch  Avas  oflered  for  sale,  and  instead  of  arresting  the  person  olfer- 
infi:  it  he  insisted  on  the  privilege  of  buying  it,  which  being  accorded  by  the 
■pavt  nbroker,  he  gave  $50  for  it,  retunied  it  to  the  owner,  and  pocketed  the  re- 
ward. This  he  called  smartness,  and  a  man  claiming  to  be  honest  having  such 
ideas,  it  is  not  singular  that  thieves  encounter  so  httle  difficulty  in  turning 
their  plunder  into  money. 

Receivers  of  all  classes  do  a  large  business  in  New  York ;  but  it  is  imjios- 
sible  to  say  what  is  the  value  of' the  property  which  annually  passes  through 
their  hands.  In  the  last  report  of  the  Police  Commissioners  it  is  stated  that 
during  the  year  1870  the  amount  of  property  lost  was  Si, 151,325  50,  of 
which  $919,004  98  was  recovered,  leaving  a  total  loss  of  $202,320  52.  I 
have  had  occasion  to  show  in  prior  articles  that  the  statistical  syst::n  of 
the  Commissioners  is  extremely  faulty,  and  especially  that  it  does  not 
present  a  true  exhibit  of  the  amount  of  property  annually  passing  into  the 
hands  of  thieves;  but  these  figures  are  of  more  value  in  estimating  the  busi- 
ness of  fences.  Although  a  compilation  is  made  together  of  property  both 
lost  and  stolen,  the  figures  represent  the  latter  chiefly,  and  it  is  certain  that  of 
this  nearly  all,  both  of  that  recovered  and  that  which  is  represented  as  a 
tofcil  loss,  passed  through  the  hands  of  the  fences.  It  is  equally  certain  that  it 
is  only  a  small  part  of  the  ijlunder  which  was  devoured  \)y  tliose  beasts  of 
prey.  I  very  much  doubt  the  accuracy  of  the  police  figures  for  1870,  as  in  18G8 
the  amount  of  property  lost  by  the  same  showing  was  $1,755,077  83,  and  the 
decrease  to  less  than  one-quarter  that  amount  in  1870  is  unnatural,  even  ad- 
mitting that  ci'ime  is  decreasing  in  the  city,  when  the  reverse  is  the  truth.  I 
claim  that  the  reports  of  the  Commissioners  for  a  number  of  years,  with  other 
facts  in  the  exliibit  for  1870,  show  that  the  i^roj^erty  stolen  in  that  year  was  at 
least  thrice  that  rejjorted  as  lost,  iiud  that  from  all  sources  the  fences  of  New 
York  do  a  business  of  five  million  dollars  per  annum  in  the  real  value  of  the 
goods  handled.  Of  course  the  amount  of  money  changing  hands  is  much  less 
than  this,  for  no  fence  was  ever  induced  to  pay  more  than  half  jmce  for  stolen 
property ;  and  every  one  who  buys  from  him  insists  on  having  at  least  a  tliird 
of  the  market  rate  as  a  margin  for  the  extra  risks  incurred.  As  this  is  a  very 
important  fact,  it  is  worth  a  general  illustration.  A  burglar  breaks  into  a  store 
and  takes  away  Avith  him  silks  valued  at  $1,000  by  tlie  owner.  When  tlie 
burglar  disposes  of  these  goods  to  the  fence,  the  utmost  he  can  possibly  get  for 
them  is  $2,000;  and  when  the  fence  in  his  turn  disposes  of  them,  he  does  not 
even  demand  more  than  $3,000.  Pro^jerty  therefox'e  depreciates  at  least  one- 
fourth  by  criminal  custody,  and  goods  worth  $5,000,000  in  the  hands  of  the 
legitimate  owners  become  Avorth  only  $3,750,000  by  suiTeptitious  ext-liange. 
Even  this  amount  seems  large,  but  it  is  divided  among  so  many  fences  that  ifc 
leaves  comparatively  only  a  small  jjortion  to  each;  and  no  fact  is  better  known 
than  that  tliese  fences  are  generally'  poor  men.  Their  receipts  are  often  large, 
but  so  are  their  expenses.  Thej-  are  continually  gettmg  into  legal  ililliculLles 
requiring  large  outlays  to  lawyers  and  the  sharpers  wlu)  infest  the  lower  grade 
of  our  criminal  courts,  beyond  Avliidi  the  cases  c>f  receivers  rarely  gt).  But 
their  chief  loss  is  i^erhaps  in  being  made  to  disgorge  stolen  proi^erty  found 
in  their  poss(!Ssion,  for  there  were  only  one  hundred  and  sixty-three  arrests  in 
the  last  year  of  receivers,  and  very  few  even  of  that  small  number  Avere  evei 


"  FEXCES."  91 

brouglit  to  h-ial.  One  way  or  another  the  funds  of  the  fences  go  as  easily  as 
they  come,  and  they  are  generally  poor.  None  of  them  ever  accumulate,  and 
when  they  die  they  are  buried  by  the  charity  of  their  associates.  Like  all  other 
classes  of  outlaws,  their  experience  proves  that  the  way  of  the  tr:insgressor  is 
hard. 

But  their  financial  embarrassments  do  not  arise  from  any  difficulties  they 
encounter  in  working  off  their  illicit  stock  in  ti-ade.  They  know  the  deplorable 
fact  that  there  are  many  men  engaged  in  business  which  seems  legitimate  who 
are  ready  at  any  time  to  dabble  in  anything  that  promises  a  profit.  It  was  on 
the  day  of  this  writing  that  a  striking  illustration  occurred  in  the  Tombs  Poli(;e 
Court.  A  merchant  in  Warren  street,  being  met  by  one  of  his  customers  with 
the  assertion  that  a  certain  quality  of  sewing  silk  could  be  bought  at  less  than 
his  offering,  was  positive  to  the  contrary,  for  there  was  none  in  market  exce})t 
what  he  put  there.  But  the  customer  was  positive,  and  upon  investio-ation  a 
man  was  found  in  Broome  street  selhng  such  silk  at  less  than  half  price,  but  ii 
proved  to  have  been  stolen  from  the  "Warren  street  merchant  eight  montiis  be- 
fore. Such  cases  are  constantly  coming  up,  and  in  suflicient  nuudjcr  to  prove 
both  the  readiness  of  a  large  class  of  business  men  to  buy  anything  which  can  be 
sold  at  a  bargain,  and  the  vast  amount  of  stolen  property  which  is  always  be- 
ing passed  from  hand  to  hand  in  this  city-  No  fence  of  experience  ever  has  the 
slightest  difficulty  in  selling  his  plunder,  and  his  chief  concern  is  to  j^reveut  its 
being  w^rested  from  him  h)  the  joint  efforts  of  the  tliieves  and  police  before  he 
has  had  suflicient  time  to  dispose  of  it.  This  is  one  of  the  principal  dangers  of 
the  fences,  and  many  flagrant  cases  of  collusion  between  the  police  and  plun- 
derers to  Avrest  stolen  goods  from  the  receivers  have  been  suspected,  and  one 
latelj'  was  clearly  proven  by  circumstantial  evidence.  The  first  object  of  the 
detective  police  being  to  recover  the  projjerty  for  the  sake  of  the  emolument  it 
will  bring,  it  is  only  because  of  their  adi'oituess  that  criminal  collusion  between 
them  and  the  thieves  is  not  proven  as  often  as  hinted.  As  it  is,  one  detective 
can  seldom  bring  a  case  upon  which  he  is  working  to  the  haj^j^y  consummation 
of  recovering  the  property,  without  his  fellows  declaring  that  it  has  been  "a 
dead  give-away,"  wdiereby  they  mean  to  say  that  no  skill  has  been  displayed  in 
the  matter,  because  the  detective  has  been  guided  from  the  outset  by  the  thief 
who  stole  the  plunder.  I  do  not  say  that  these  things  are  true,  but  I  do  aver 
that  they  are  often  alleged. 

The  traflic  in  stolen  goods  has  gone  on  almost  unchecked  in  New  York,  and 
•will  probably,  to  the  end  of  the  chapter.  At  a  fii-st  glance  it  aj^pears  eas}'  to 
exterminate  the  crime  by  the  j)unishmeut  of  the  offenders.  The  jiossession  ol 
the  property  is  the  gi'avamen  of  the  offence,  and  nothing  is  so  easily  established 
as  a  foct  so  palpable  as  this.  But  after  the  jjroperty  is  found  in  possession  of  a 
fence  there  are  two  great  difficulties  in  the  way  of  punishing  him  for  havino-  it. 
First,  it  is  to  the  interest  of  everybody  that  the  case  shall  not  go  to  court  •  the 
owner  wants  his  property,  the  i)oliceman  his  reward,  and  the  fence  immunity. 
Second,  should  the  two  first  decide  to  prefer  the  interests  of  society  rather  than 
their  own,  and  prosecute  the  fence,  they  are  met  by  the  almost  insuperable  ob- 
Btacle  of  legally  proving  the  property  found  to  be  identical  with  that  which  was 
lost,  the  fence  has  so  changed  its  appearance.  Because  of  these  two  facts 
dealing  in  stolen  goods  has  become,  and  threatens  to  permanently  remain,  one 
wf  the  leading  industries  of  the  metropolis. 


FARO-GAMBLERS. 


WHO'S  payin'  ?    I'm  dead  broke !  " 
"What!     Cleaned  out?" 

"  You  bet.  But  if  that  dealer  hadn't  railroaded,  I'd  a  got  square  copperia' 
the  ace." 

The  words  being  spoken  at  two  o'clock  in  the  morning  in  a  basement  coffee 
saloon  which  had  the  one  merit  of  chea^jness,  and  the  speakers  being  men  of 
generally  mildewed  appearance,  with  moustaches  surprisingly  huge  and  hats 
susijiciously  glossy,  I  was  aware  that  I  had  been  made  acquainted  with  one  of 
the  vexations  of  grovelling  gambling  life,  at  no  greater  cost  than  some  execra- 
ble refreshments  and  the  temporary  companionshij)  at  a  ghostly  horn-  of  tliree 
accomplished  pickpockets,  one  bm-glar  of  excellent  reputation  in  his  profession, 
a  dilapidated  skinner,  six  abandoned  women,  and  four  victims  of  the  uncei*- 
taiuties  of  faro. 

The  last  were  types  of  a  class  to  be  met  in  certain  localities  and  at  certain 
hours,  with  such  frequency  as  to  prove  that  it  is  respectable  in  numbers  if 
nothing  else.  At  any  of  the  later  hours  of  the  night,  in  any  one  of  the  cheap 
eating  shops  in  or  near  Broadway,  from  Spring  street  north  to  Tenth  street,  can 
be  found  one  or  more  of  the  shabby-genteel  men  who  bear  unmistakable  evi- 
dence in  their  speech,  manner,  and  appearance  of  long  and  generally  disastrous 
fighting  with  the  tiger.  These  are  the  ca?iaille  of  gamblers,  who  hang  preca- 
riously on  the  edge  of  a  terrible  fascination,  and  manage  to  supply  the  neces- 
sities of  life  in  a  cheap  way,  from  chance  success  in  small  bets  and  by  a 
few  dollars  picked  up  by  guiding  more  profitable  customers  to  the  houses 
where  they  are  known.  Sti-ictly  speaking,  more  "cappers"  than  gamblers, 
they  are  not  only  at  the  bottom  of  the  profession,  but  their  right  to  the 
proud  title  of  "sporting  men"  is  stoutly  denied  by  their  more  prosperous  and 
reputable  brethren  of  the  green  cloth.  ImiDrovident,  unclean  in  habits  and  lan- 
guage, unscrupulous,  they  are  the  natural  products  of  sporting  life,  but  which 
the  faro  banks  nevertheless  strive,  although  in  vain,  to  shake  off.  Every  house 
has  several  of  these  forlorn  attaches,  who  play  when  they  have  money,  and  in- 
troduce a  desirable  sti-anger  when  they  can,  but  are  constant  in  their  attendance 
upon  the  banqiiets  daily  spread  in  these  houses,  and  are  thus  obliged  to  take 
the  chances  as  to  lodgings  and  raiment  only,  save  when  tlieir  hospitality  has 
been  worn  threadbare,  and  they  are  then  found  in  the  places  Avhere  I  heard  one 
of  them  declare  the  emptiness  of  his  pockets  in  such  emphatic  manner. 

Veiy  different  in  most  respects  is  another  class  of  gamblers  who  can  be 
seen  any  fine  afternoon  decorating  Broadway  with  the  splendor  of  their  apparel, 
for  as  a  rule  the  sporting  fraternity  is  unexcelled  in  elegance  of  raiment.  If 
you  meet  iu  Broadway  a  man  who  lounges  listlessly  onward  as  though  he  had 
no  well-defined  object  in  life,  and  whose  garments  are  cut  in  the  latest  stjde  and 
of  tlie  finest  material,  you  may  wager  he  is  a  gamltler  in  good  luck,  provided  his 
silk  hat  is  in  the  highest  possible  state  of  polish  and  his  watch  chain  unusually 
heavy.  Very  elegant  in  appearance,  very  quiet  and  gentlemanly  in  their  de- 
meanor, are  these  professional  sports  of  the  better  class  at  all  times  and  in  all 
places.    I  have  met  men  eminent  in  science,  literature,  art,  politics,  aiid  the 


FARO-GAISIBLERS.  93 

*ast  in  great  numbers,  in  fcivo  resorts,  no  one  of  whom  could  exceed  in  goo' 
Dreeding  the  i^olished  proprietors,  nor  even  some  of  the  professional  gambler 
wlio  were  present.  Generally  they  are  men  of  fair  intelligence  and  educatiou 
who  can  converse  agi'eeably  upon  current  toj)ics ;  and  I  have  met  some  few  who 
were  possessed  of  the  highest  intellectual  jiowers,  which  had  been  most  libep 
nlly  cultivated.  One  whom  I  knew,  but  who  is  now  dead,  was  tlie  son  of  a 
Portuguese  nobleman,  exiled  for  political  reasons,  who,  Avith  the  finish  of  a 
courtier,  had  a  mind  of  great  originative  power,  which  had  been  trained  and 
stored  in  the  best  universities  of  Europe.  This  man,  who  was  capable  of  out- 
stripping his  fellows  in  almost  any  field  of  human  eflbrt,  was  the  keeper  of  an 
ordinary  faro  bank;  and  although  an  excei^tion  perhaps,  men  but  little  less 
than  he  was  in  gifts,  acquirements,  and  opportunities,  can  be  found  in  almost 
every  first-class  gambling  resort,  trusting  to  the  turn  of  a  card  for  the  means  of 
life.  They  are  men  Avho  are  so  convinced  of  the  emjDtiness  of  life  tliat  they  are 
incapable  of  making  an  effort  for  any  of  its  jirizes,  and  are  content  to  take  such 
pot-luck  Avith  the  world  as  their  perfect  mastery  of  the  science  of  chances  in 
card-i^laying  may  give.  Scorning  equally  to  take  a  dollar  by  iixlse  play  or  to 
introduce  a  novice  to  their  method  of  living,  there  are  many  worse  men  to  be 
met,  and  in  much  more  reputable  places,  than  tliese  professional  gamblers, 
who  wrong  only  themselves.  A  public  danger  as  they  are  in  the  example 
they  set,  it  is  impossible  not  to  deal  more  in  sorrow  than  in  anger  with  men 
Avho  do  evil  so  suavely,  and  who  tacitly  admit,  by  every  act  of  their  lives, 
that  they  are  fully  aware  of  the  wrong  they  are  doing  themselves  and  the  com- 
munity. 

Another  class  of  men  who  live  by  the  cards  are  not  entitled  to  any  such  con- 
sideration. Coarse-featured,  moustache  bristly,  hair  close-shaven  like  a  con- 
vict's, apparel  obtrusively  gaudy  and  loaded  with  massive  ornaments  i^retend- 
ing  to  be  of  gold  and  precious  stones,  these  are  men  to  be  shunned  as  the  sliarks 
whicli  their  appearance  and  their  every  act  proclaim  them  to  be.  They  are 
the  proprietors  or  enticers  on  commission  of  the  tliird-rate  dens,  where  a 
"  square  "  game  is  never  played  even  by  accident.  Faro  failing  to  return  a 
profit,  these  fellows  are  ready  to  try  anything  else,  from  a  game  of  poker  to 
downright  robbery,  as  a  means  of  obtaining  money  without  honest  labor,  which 
they  abhor  as  tlie  lowest  estate  of  man.  Any  one  can  make  a  living  by  work, 
they  say,  but  it  requires  a  smart  man  to  get  it  witliout;  and  they  are  so  bloated 
witli  a  sense  of  their  exceeding  shrewdness,  that  they  sometimes  try  their  hand 
at  some  one  of  the  confidence  oi^erations  in  wliich  the  skinners  are  adepts,  and 
almost  invariably  do  it  so  clumsily  that  failure  is  the  result.  Their  chief  occu- 
pation and  main  reliance  for  a  livelihood,  when  they  are  not  the  owners  of  a 
small  den,  is  as  "  ropers  in  " ;  and  it  is  surprising,  considering  liow  uncouth  they 
are  in  appearance  and  address,  that  they  are  so  successful  in  enticing  strangers 
into  the  holes  where  they  can  be  fleeced.  These  strangers  thus  inveigled  come 
tinder  tlie  name  of  occasional  players,  whether  guided  by  the  bettor  class  of 
ropers  into  the  first-class  saloons,  or  by  these  viler  ones  into  tlie  low  cribs ;  .and 
whether  in  the  one  or  the  other,  they  are  the  vivification  of  ail  gambling.  So 
long  as  one  sport  wins  or  loses  from  or  to  another,  no  harm  is  done  the  com- 
munity at  large,  but  no  good  is  done  the  gamblers.  The  occasional  players 
furnish  the  means  to  replenish  the  faro  banks,  or  they  would  soon  be  eni2)ty ; 
and  the  strangers  who  play  not  more  than  two  or  three  times  in  tlieir  lives  aii8 
the  meat  upon  which  this  vice  has  grown  so  great. 

It  is  not  singular  that  the  novice  is  so  apt  to  try  his  luck  when  he  has  onc-€ 


94  TIIE  NETHER  SIDE  OF  NEW  TORK. 

been  induced  to  euter  the  ganibliiio;  room.  The  universal  American  game  ia 
"  faro,"  and  it  looks  so  simple,  so  safe,  so  entire]}^  fair,  tliat  the  chances  appear 
in  favor  of  rather  than  against  the  outside  player.  There  is,  first,  the  large 
massive  table  covered  with  green  cloth,  and  on  it,  occupying  less  than  half  its 
surJace,  is  the  "lay-out,"  Avhich  is  a  full  suit  of  cards,  from  the  ace  to  the  king, 
painted  in  a  jDarallelogi-am.  Then  there  is  the  dealing  box,  into  "which  tl>e 
cards  are  put  face  upward,  and  the  whole  game  consists  in  guessing  Avhat  card 
Avill  be  reached  as  they  are  drawn  from  the  box.  All  being  ready,  the  pjayei-s 
make  their  bets  by  j^lacing  upon  a  card  in  the  lay-out  the  amount  they  desir-e 
to  risk  upon  it,  and  the  game  can  be  best  described  by  supposing  that  one  of 
these  is  sanguine  the  queen  will  win.  He  therefore  puts  on  the  card  the  small 
round  iMeces  of  ivory  called  "  checks,"  which  he  has  purchased  of  the  dealer, 
and  each  of  which  represents  a  certain  sum,  ranging  all  the  way  from  twenty- 
five  cents  to  one  hundred  dollars.  The  first  card,  having  been  exposed  befoi'e 
the  game  opens,  is  "dead,"  and  does  not  count.  If  the  second  shouhl  be  a 
queen,  the  supposed  player  loses ;  but  if  the  third,  he  wins.  The  same  rule  holds 
good  through  the  seventeen  turns  in  each  deal,  the  dealer  winning  on  each  al- 
ternate card  beginning  Avith  the  second.  But  when  only  four  cards  remain  in 
the  Ijox,  the  game  assumes  a  new  j)hase  as  the  last  turn  is  called.  The  first  and 
f(jurth  card  being  "  dead,"  only  the  second  and  third  are  open  to  speculation, 
and  the  chances  are  considered  so  greatly  against  the  jilayer  that  the  dealer 
pays  four  for  one  on  this  turn.  All  this  apjoears  very  simple  to  the  tyro,  and 
he  cannot  be  made  to  understand  that  the  bank  has  any  advantage  over  him  in 
guessing  the  order  in  which  the  cards  in  the  box  will  be  reached.  He  is  fully 
prepared  to  believe  that  the  only  chance  against  him  is  the  "  sjilits,"  as  the 
bank  takes  half  of  whatever  may  be  bet  upon  the  card  when  two  of  the  same 
suit  ai)pear  on  the  "  turn,"  and  gives  him  nothing.  Convinced,  as  the  great  ma- 
jority of  x^eople  are  that  there  is  only  this  risk  against  them,  it  is  not  strange 
that  faro  has  become  the  most  popular  and  universal  of  games  of  chance. 

It  is  made  more  alluring  by  its  surroundings.  Nowhere  has  sumi^tuous  el- 
egance been  attained  in  such  perfection  as  in  the  first-class  gambling  saloons 
of  New  York.  Generally  each  has  a  suite  of  rooms,  the  largest  of  which  is  de- 
voted to  faro,  Avith  perhaps  a  roulette  wheel  in  one  corner,  while  others  are  sa- 
cred to  short  card  games,  and  one  is  always  exclusively  used  as  a  banqueting 
hall.  All  are  furnished  without  regard  to  cost,  but  there  is  never  anything  in 
any  of  them  to  ofl'end  the  most  fixstidious  taste,  although  there  may  be  some- 
times a  grim  humor  in  some  of  the  decorations,  as  is  the  case  in  one  house 
where  a  magnificent  oil  painting  of  a  tiger  is  suspended  to  the  wall  immediate- 
h'  over  the  table,  so  that  none  of  the  players  can  look  up  without  meeting  the 
glaring  e^'e  of  the  beast  which  is  hold  to  be  the  presiding  deity  of  the  game. 
But  such  suggestions  as  this  are  rare,  as  in  general  there  is  nothing  anywhere 
but  the  faro  table  to  declare  the  uses  of  the  jolace;  take  that  away,  and  the  vis- 
itor would  imagine  himself  in  the  private  parlors  of  a  gentleman  Avhose  great 
wealth  was  foi'tunately  equalled  by  his  refined  taste.  This  delusion  would  be 
strengtliened  by  a  seat  at  the  banquet,  where  the  viands  of  all  possiljle  varie- 
ties are  of  the  best  quality,  and  are  served  with  a  finished  elegance  in  the 
plate  and  all  table  appointments,  includmg  the  waiters,  which  is  not  ex- 
ceeded even  in  the  most  select  houses.  At  the  ta])le  and  on  the  sideboard 
in  the  saloon  are  liquors  of  such  excellent  quality  that  they  would  liave  an- 
gered old  Ijlear-eyed,  besotted  Silenus,  as  wanting  in  the  fire  he  demanded  in 
his  di'ams,  but  although  freely  ofi'ered  they  are  never  jjressed  upon  the  visitor, 


l^ARO-GAiMBLERS.  95 

and  it  is  possible  for  a  man  to  frequent  these  saloons  for  years  without  acquir- 
ing a  taste  for  lic^uor.  There  is,  in  fact,  very  little  drinking  in  tlicni,  and  none 
at  all  of  that  fast  and  furious  potation  which  hurries  so  many  thousands  of 
Americans  to  2)hysical  and  mental  ruin.  No  sight  is  rarer  in  a  gaming-house 
than  to  see  a  man  maudlin  drunk,  and  'still  more  rare  is  it  to  lind  one  under 
tlie  influence  of  liquor  engaged  in  heavy  betting.  An  intoxicated  man  is  never 
allowed  to  profane  the  place,  and  if  he  appears  in  the  person  of  a  valual)lo  jDat- 
ron  is  quietly  led  away,  to  be  put  to  bed  in  some  remote  room ;  but  if  he  comes 
as  an  unknown  casual,  he  is  j^ut  into  the  street  with  little  ceremony,  but  no 
violence. 

What  has  been  said  of  the  ai^pointments  of  faro  houses  applies  of  course  only 
to  the  first-class  and  most  prosperous  establisliments.  The  places  next  in  order 
ape  them  in  everj'tliing,  but  are  far  below  them  in  all.  A  second-class  house 
has  sometimes  even  more  of  glitter  than  its  rival,  but  it  is  easy  to  see  that  it  is 
pinchbeck  grandeur.  There  is  an  entire  absence  too  of  the  relined  taste  which 
presided  over  the  decoration  and  furnishing  of  the  better  houses.  The  rooms 
are  glaringly  painted,  filled  with  odds  anil  en<ls  of  furniture  of  all  ages  and 
patterns,  so  that  they  look  not  unlike  the  wards  of  a  hospital  for  superannuated 
and  diseased  household  goods  turned  over  in  their  old  age  to  the  auctioneer's 
hammer.  The  suppers  and  liquors,  however,  most  plainly  proclaim  the  lower 
caste  of  the  place.  While  the  variety  in  both  is  abundant,  the  first  are  exe- 
crably cooked  and  served,  and  the  quality  of  the  latter  would  not  be  strange 
to  the  most  experienced  patron  of  tlie  ordinary  Broadway  saloons,  which  are 
proverljial  for  furnishing  every  kind  of  beverage  except  good.  But  if  the  sec- 
ond grade  houses  are  bad  in  these  respects^  there  are  some  below  tlieui  which 
are  much  worse.  If  a  man  can  digest  the  so-called  game  suppers  and  survive 
any  considerable  drinking  of  the  liquids  which  are  oftered  as  pure  whiskey  and 
brandy  in  the  lowest  class  of  faro-houses,  he  ouglit  to  be  able  to  insure  his  life 
ujjon  the  most  favorable  terms.  And  the  appointments  of  these  houses  are  in 
keeping  with  their  entertainment.  The  chairs,  sofas,  and  carpets  were  of  the 
most  tawdry  description  when  new,  but  are  ragged  with  long  and  ill  usage; 
tlie  gambling-checks,  which  range  in  price  from  twenty-five  cents  to  one  dollar, 
are  grimed  and  dented  with  much  handling;  the  faro-table,  which  elsewhere 
is  enticing  in  its  newness  and  cleanliness,  here  is  old  and  smeared  with  grease ; 
Uie  dealing-box,  which  in  first-class  houses  is  of  pure  and  polished  silver,  in  the 
Becond-(dass  of  German  silver,  but  equally  polished,  here  is  of  pewter  and  dingy. 
So  in  all  the  minutiae  of  the  i^lace  it  is  repulsively  suggestive  of  squalid  and  un- 
prosperous  vice,  and  if  by  any  chance  a  gentleman  enters,  he  leaves  at  once  to 
lose  his  money  under  more  elegant  or  at  least  cleaner  auspices. 

Provided  a  "  square  "  game  is  dealt,  the  actual  playing  of  faro  is  precisely  the 
Siime  whether  thousands  are  wagered  in  the  elegance  of  Twenty-fourth  street,  or 
as  many  pennies  in  the  squalor  of  the  Bowery.  The  players  being  seated  around 
Uu'ee  sides  of  the  table,  where  there  is  room  for  six  or  eight,  the  dealer  takes  up 
tlie  other  side,  with  the  marker  of  the  game  generally  at  his  elbow.  This 
marker  has  the  cue-box,  a  glance  at  which  at  any  time  will  show  the  players 
which  cards  of  each  suit  are  out  and  which  yet  remain  in  the  box ;  and  it  is 
a  knowledge  eagerly  sought  by  the  bettors,  who  are  to  a  great  extent  guided  by 
it.  There  is  rarely  a  word  spoken  during  the  progress  of  a  deal,  for  foro  is  the 
most  quiet,  and  in  that  respect  tlie  most  gentlemanly  of  all  games.  A  glance 
at  the  cue-box  tells  the  player  the  condition  of  the  dealing-box,  and  he  silently 
places  his  wager  in  the  shape  of  checks  upon  Ins  chosen  card  or  cards,  with  a 


96  THE  NETHER  SIBE  OF  NEAV  YORK. 

copper  upon  them  if  he  desires  to  bet  upon  the  side  of  the  bank,  as  he  is  at  hborty 
to  do.  After  each  turn  the  dealer  glances  over  the  board,  and  without  a  word 
picks  up  the  checks  he  has  won,  or  adds  the  same  number  to  those  alreadj'  upou 
the  cards  in  the  cases  where  he  lias  lost.  Any  player  is  free  to  cease  playing 
at  any  moment,  and  at  the  close  of  a  deal  can  obtain  the  money  for  whatever 
number  of  checks  he  may  possess  by  handing  them  in  to  the  dealer.  From  this 
ajxiration,  suggestive  of  a  closed  career,  has  come  one  of  the  mpst  common  of 
modern  slang  phrases,  "handing  in  his  checks,"  as  a  synonj-me  for  death;  and 
there  is  something  of  a  grotesque  humor  in  the  metaphor,  when  the  circum- 
stances which  gave  it  birth  are  fullj'^  considered.  There  is  something  funereal  la 
the  gravity  and  decorum  of  the  faro  room,  and  there  is  a  deal  of  the  utter 
abandon  of  death  in  the  staid  recklessness  with  which  an  infatuated  player 
stakes  his  last  dollar  on  the  turn  of  a  card. 

Even  where  the  game  is  not  "square,"  it  is  usually  marked  by  the  same 
solemn  proi^riety  during  its  jirogress,  for  it  is  not  often  the  victim  discovers 
that  he  has  been  cheated  i:ntil  long  after  the  close  of  the  operation.  The  frauds 
of  faro,  once  known,  are  so  transparent  that  it  is  amazing  that  they  ai"e  not 
discovered  at  the  moment  their  prepai'ation  is  attempted.  The  most  com- 
mon is  that  of  the  sanded  cards,  by  which  is  meant  cards  with  the  surface 
roughened,  so  that  the  two  being  handled  in  a  certain  way  will  adhere  and  a\>- 
jiear  as  one.  The  dealer,  intending  to  make  assurance  doubly  sure,  and  to  be 
certain  that  the  players  shall  lay  down  and  take  up  their  money  only  at  his 
l>leasure,  arranges  the  cards  before  beginning  the  deal  so  that  he  knows  precisely 
the  order  in  which  they  "will  come  out.  During  the  progress  of  the  deal  he  is 
therefore  able  to  baffle  chance  by  pulling  out  one  card  or  two,  as  the  bets  upon 
the  table  may  demand.  If  the  patron  to  be  fleeced  has  wagered  on  the  ace,  the 
dealer  easily  makes  that  card  win  or  lose,  to  serve  his  purpose ;  and  in  these 
"  skin  games,"  where  everybody  but  the  goose  who  is  being  plucked  is  in  the 
c<Hifederacy  of  roguery,  nobody  keeps  tally  of  the  turns,  and  the  victim  at  the 
close  of  the  deal  is  ignoi'ant  Avhether  there  have  been  seventeen  turns  or  half 
that  number.  Yet  the  most  sui)erficial  knowledge  of  the  game  and  the  slight- 
est practice  ought  to  save  any  one  from  a  swindle  that  is  dailj-  practised,  and 
is  I)ut  little  less  clumsy  and  transjiarent  than  tlie  next  most  ordinary  fraud  of 
dealing  from  a  jiack  with  more  than  the  llftj'-two  cards,  where  the  presence 
of  the  dishonest  suiiernumeraries  immensely  increases  the  chances  against  the 
player.  Of  course  a  little  observation  would  reveal  the  superfluous  knave,  but 
the  cheat  is  usually  practised  upon  men  who  hardly  know  one  card  from  an- 
other, and  has  therefore  been  successful  far  beyond  its  merits.  Even  if  the 
dupe  should  discover  his  true  position,  he  has  wit  enough  as  a  rule  to  do  noth- 
ing more  than  cease  playing  upon  the  first  plausible  pretext,  and  go  quietly  out 
of  the  liouse.  There  is  hardly  any  i^osition  in  which  a  man  can  be  placed 
which  is  more  trying  to  the  nerves  than  to  find  himself  alone  in  a  "  skin " 
house,  as  the  dens  where  cheating  games  are  played  are  called,  with  a  terse 
truthfulness  that  is  in  itself  quite  appalling.  Surrounded  by  the  ruflians  of 
the  gambling  fraternity,  who  watch  his  everjMiiovement  with  suspicious  greed, 
he  is  not  conscious  of  his  peril  until  h^  finds  that  he  is  being  cheated,  and  be- 
ti'ays  the  consciousness  by  some  word  or  look.  Then  he  feels  himself  walled 
up  from  sympathy  and  safety  by  the  merciless  gamesters  around  him,  and  noth- 
ing is  further  from  his  thoughts  than  to  demand  the  return  of  his  money.  All 
that  he  asks  is  a  chance  to  breathe  the  free  air  of  the  streets  again,  and  that  is 
all  his  desjioilers  will  allow.     A  patrolman  pacing  his  beat  in  the  small  hours 


FAKO-GAMBLERS.  97 

of  a  sleety  morning  was  accosted  hy  a  pallid  stranger,  who,  pointing  to 
tlie  lighted  second-iloor  windows  of  a  well-known  "  skin "  house,  asked 
"  Stranger,  what's  that?"  "Faro,"  was  the  answer;  but  the  stranger  sai4 
"  No,  sir ;  it's  hell !  I've  been  there !  The  devils  will  be  out  prcisently ;  pleas« 
don't  let  'em  follow  me."  And  having,  as  he  thought,  established  a  strong  rear- 
guard in  the  policeman,  the  victim  retreated  hastily  but  in  good  order.  Such 
horrors  as  this  man  had  evidently  met  face  to  face  are  nightly  encountered  in 
the  great  city,  where  the  skin  game  is  played  in  scores  of  dens  that  wear  a 
charm  against  the  jjenalties  of  the  law  in  the  terror  they  create  in  those  who 
have  been  cheated  in  them. 

Faro  houses  in  New  York  have  rarely  exceeded  one  hundred  in  number,  ex- 
cejit  during  the  latter  part  of  the  war,  when  speculation  going  mad  in  Wall 
street  stalked  over  the  land,  demoralizing  and  ruining  thousands.  In  those 
feverish  times  faro-playing  naturally  increased  with  stock-gambling,  and  tlie 
faro  houses  multiplied  until  they  vibrated  between  one  hundred  and  twenty 
and  one  hundred  and  thirty  in  number.  Of  late  years,  however,  they  have 
steadily  decreased,  and  during  the  year  1871,  when  the  public  excitement 
upon  the  subject  oft  caused  the  sensational  statement  that  the  city  contains  six 
hundred  of  them,  ninety-two  was  the  largest  number  oi^en  at  any  time. 
The  number  seems  small  in  comparison  with  the  size  of  the  city,  which,  besitles 
tlie  large  resident  reckless  population,  contains  tens  of  thousands  of  strangers 
anxious  not  to  miss  any  of  the  sensations  of  the  metropolis.  Yet  these  faro 
banks  not  only  are  enough  to  do  all  the  business  presented  and  enticed  to  them, 
but  some  have  a  very  precarious  life  owing  to  the  lack  of  custom.  The  first 
and  second  class  houses  are  under  very  heavy  expenses,  a  principal  item  of 
which  takes  the  shape  of  rent.  They  must  be  and  are  located  in  the  principal 
thoroughfares,  near  the  leading  hotels,  Avith  tlie  exception  of  those  anomalous 
institutions  known  as  "  day  games,"  which  are  found  in  Ann,  Fulton,  and 
Chambers  sti'eets,  for  the  accommodation  of  business  men,  many  of  whom  have 
acquired  the  bad  habit  of  seeldng  solace  for  the  vexations  of  legitimate  trans- 
actions in  the  delights  of  faro.  A  seizure  was  made  of  these  places  lately,  upon 
the  ground  that  they  are  of  all  the  gambling  establishments  in  the  city  the  most 
dangerous  to  the  public.  It  is  not  necessary  to  endorse  this  statement  in  order 
to  justify  the  attempt  to  suppress  day  gamljliiig;  but  if  activity  in  this  direc- 
tion is  intended  to  excuse  the  toleration  of  all  other  houses,  it  will  result  in 
more  of  evil  than  good.  The  night  houses  into  Avliich  strangers  are  inveigled 
and  robbed,  which  are  the  resorts  of  young  men  of  fortune,  who  here  take  the 
first  steps  in  a  dowuAvard  road  which  leads  them  and  their  families  to  shame 
and  ruin,  are  worthy  of  at  least  equal  attention.  Besides  being  more  fre- 
quented, these  night  houses  have  a  much  greater  number  of  hours  for  play. 
The  day  houses  are  only  in  full  operation  four  or  five  hours  per  day;  but  in  the 
night  houses  a  game  can  be  had  during  the  afternoon  and  at  any  hour  of  the 
aight,  while  the  average  of  play,  take  them  altogether,  is  fully  twelve  hours  in 
each  twenty-four.  The  night  houses,  therefore,  which  can  be  found  in  ujiper 
Broadway  and  the  cross-streets  near  the  large  hotels,  do  the  most  faro-playing, 
and  are  necessarily  greater  evils  than  places  which  are  only  accessible  during 
a  few  hours,  and  then  only  to  a  single  class.  In  the  absorption  and  waste  of 
capital,  the  half  score  of  day  houses  cannot  be  compared  to  those  where  most 
of  the  play  is  at  night. 

I  have  endeavored,  but  without  the  success  I  hoped  and  desired,  to  get 
accvirate  statistics  upon  this  point,  and  am  therefore  forced  to  use  approxi- 


98  TIIE  NETHER  SIDE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

mate  fio:ures,  which  are,  however,  very  near  the  exact  truth.  The  fiiro 
banks  of  New  York  have  as  capital  a  little  less  than  one  million  of  dollars, 
wjiich  is  very  unequally  divided,  as  the  ninety-two  houses  vary  from  $2,000  to 
$50,000  eacli,  although  only  three  or  four  have  the  latter  amount,  and  the  aver- 
age banking  capital  is  about  $10,000.  It  is  impossible  to  say  what  amount  rf 
money  changes  hands  upon  this  basis,  but  I  have  learned  that  the  average 
yearly  ^vinnings  of  all  the  banks  taken  together  is  about  dfty  per  cent,  exclusive 
of  the  capital  required  to  keep  up  the  establishments,  so  that  every.year  these 
gamblers  absorb  about  $500,000,  and  the  actual  profits  are  more  than  100  per 

cent. 

These  figures  are  conclusive  that  the  way  of  the  transgressor  is  hard.  Yet 
it  is  the  imcertainty  of  faro  that  constitutes  its  fascination,  and  makes  it  possible 
for  the  houses  to  have  so  large  an  average  of  profit.  As  against  a  single  player 
the  bank  is  estimated  to  have  an  advantage  of  but  fifteen  per  cent,  in  the  chances, 
but  as  against  all  of  its  patrons  its  odds  are  almost  mcalculable.  I  nave  seen 
a  game  uliere  one  man  would  win  steadily  through  several  deil?,  while  the 
several  otlier  players  as  steadily  lost,  and  was  told  by  expenenced  larofessionals 
that  I  was  witnessing  an  event  of  constant  and  expected  occurrence.  But  I 
was  also  warned  not  to  judge  of  ultimate  results  by  the  one  lucky  man,  as  my 
kindly  mentor  assured  me  that  at  some  time  that  individual  would  lose  back  to 
that  bank,  or  some  other,  every  dollar  of  his  winnings.  In  the  long  run 
the  bank  must  always  win.  It  has  been  said  that  no  Frenchman  can  avoid 
death,  or  the  Cross  of  the  Legion  of  Honor,  and  gamblers  have  a  saying 
as  caustic  and  more  true,  that  a  "  Stormer  is  sure  to  be  a  piker."  The  fii'st 
term  interpreted  into  English,  means  one  who  has  an  extraordinary  rim  of 
good  luck  by  which  he  has  pocketed  thousands,  while  a  "  piker  "  is  a  tolerated 
collapse  who  makes  a  stray  bet  when  he  can  beg  or  borrow  a  "  check." 

These  ups  and  downs  are  the  safeguards  of  the  banks  and  the  ruin  of  the 
players.  No  man  would  play  long  or  heavily  if  constantly  a  loser  from  the 
start,  but  buoyed  by  occasional  gains,  the  fangs  of  the  game  are  fiistened  into 
liis  very  nature.  There  are  exceptions,  of  course,  of  which  I  have  seen  some, 
and  heard  of  others ;  but  the  rule  is  that  a  beginner  becomes  a  confirmed  player 
and  ends  in  banki-uptcy.  No  vice  has  blighted  so  many  lives,  has  illustrated  so 
many  epics  of  anguish,  or  has  cost  the  productive  industry  of  the  nation  so  many 
millions  of  money,  as  foro  gambling.  There  is  scarcely  a  business  man  who 
cannot  point  out  some  hulk  floating  in  the  streets  covered  with  the  mire  of 
poverty,  who  once  had  fiite  behind  him,  but,  forsaking  trade  for  faro,  became 
what  he  is;  and  the  liberal  profcssioiis— but  especially  the  law— can  furnish  in 
proportion  even  a  greater  number  of  these  warning  examples.  There  is 
scarcely  a  lady  in  good  society  who  cannot  tell  of  some  refined  and  elegant 
woman,  once  the  pride  of  her  circle,  now  living  in  penury  and  neglect,  whose 
fortune  has  been  wrecked  by  her  husband  on  that  fatal  table.  There  are 
hundreds  of  orphans  wailing  for  bread,  whose  guardians  have  sunk  their  por- 
tions in  the  maelstrom  of  faro.  Trust  funds,  public  and  private,  have  been 
piled  upon  the  gi-een  cloth,  to  disappear  in  the  insatiable  drawer  of  the  dealer. 
And  all  this  misery,  shame,  and  loss  has  been  inflicted  upon  the  country  be- 
cause  faro  honestly  played  is  a  game  of  pure  chance,  and  sometimes  favors  the 
unfortunate  who  meddles  Avith  it. 

it  is  scarcely  necessary  to  prove  tliese  general  truths  by  the  recital  of  special 
cases,  for  every  reader  of  the  daily  newspapers  can  recall  the  heart-rending 
history  of  some  victim  of  this  deadly  fascination.     It  is  not  often  that  tlie  splen- 


FARO-GAMBLERS.  99 

dors  of  tlie  gambling  saloons  are  dabbled  with  blood,  but  the  stains  are  scarcely 
yet  removed  from  a  day  house  where  an  infetuated  youth  balanced  accounts 
'  with  the  despiteful  ace  by  blowing  out  his  brains  beside  the  gambling  table. 
If  such  tragedies  were  more  common,  there  would  be  fower  victims  of  the 
game ;  for  that  revelation  of  the  innermost  secrets  of  (avo  life  did  more  to 
startle  the  devotees  of  the  game  into  abstinence  than  anything  wliich  could  be 
said  or  done  concerning  the  vice.  The  experience  of  all  the  years  during 
which  faro  has  flourished  in  New  York  is  convincing  that  moral  force  is  jjow- 
erless  against  the  game,  and  that  the  law  which  has  been  made  for  its  suppres- 
sion cannot,  or  at  least  will  not  be  enforced.  The  penalties  of  the  statute  which 
was  enacted  in  1851,  are  sufficiently  severe  if  they  could  be  inflicted  upon  even 
a  moiety  of  the  houses,  to  entirely  suppress  the  game.  But  it  is  a  suggestive 
fact  that  there  has  ncA'er  been  but  one  conviction  for  the  offence  of  gambling 
in  the  city  of  New  York.  The  statute  specifically  enacts  that  "  if  any  person 
for  gambling  purposes  shall  keep  or  exhibit  any  gambling  table,  device  or  ap- 
paratus, or  if  any  person  or  persons  shall  be  guilty  of  dealing  'faro,'  or  bank- 
ing for  others  to  deal  '  faro,'  or  acting  as  '  look-out,'  or  gamekeeper  for  the 
game  of  '  faro,'  shall  be  taken  and  held  as  a  common  gambler,  and  upon  con- 
viction thereof  shall  be  sentenced  to  not  less  than  ten  days  hard  labor  in  tlie 
Penitentiary,  or  not  more  than  two  years  hard  labor  in  the  State  Prison,  and  be 
fined  in  any  sum  not  more  than  one  thousand  dollars."  It  is  made  a  misde- 
meanor punishable  by  fine,  for  any  person  to  persuade  another  to  enter  a  gam- 
bling room,  or  for  the  owner  or  lessee  of  any  premises  to  permit  gambling 
therein,  and  it  is  "  the  duty  of  all  sheriffs,  iaolice-officers,  constables,  and  pros- 
ecuting or  district  attorneys  to  inform  against  and  prosecute  all  persons  whom 
they  shall  have  credible  reason  to  believe  are  offenders ;  "  and  it  is  a  misde- 
meanor punishable  by  a  fine  of  not  more  than  five  hundred  dollars  for  any  of 
these  officials  to  neglect  this  duty. 

Armed  with  these  great  powers,  it  would  seem  to  be  no  very  difficult  task 
for  the  peo2)le  to  successfully  battle  with  "  faro  "  ;  yet  this  stringent  law,  whi(;li 
the  casual  reader  would  suppose  a  most  effective  piece  of  correctional  mechan- 
ism, lias  been  inoperative  from  its  enactment.  Many  attempts  have  been  made 
to  enforce  it,  some  of  which  had  an  honest  intent  to  accomplish  its  purjjose, 
while  others  had  no  better  design  than  to  blackmail  the  gamblers ;  but  both 
ended  in  ignominious  failure.  The  seizures  of  the  houses  and  implements  of 
the  game  permitted  by  the  law,  have  been  successfully  made  many  times,  and 
the  supposed  principals  have  as  often  been  held  for  trial  in  the  Court  of  Gener- 
al Sessions  by  the  police  magistrates,  but  with  the  single  excei3tion  of  tlae  com- 
plaint against  Pat  Hearn,  no  case  has  ever  gone  to  a  conviction.  The  abnor- 
mal result  in  Hearn's  case  ought  to  have  encouraged  the  authorities  to  use  all 
possible  means  to  secure  a  like  conclusion  in  others,  as  it  for  the  time  entirely  • 
suppre^ssed  faro  gambling  in  New  York.  But  it  has  never  had  a  companion, 
and  faro  as  a  consequence  has  had  a  long  career  of  uninterrupted  prosperity. 
Various  district  attorneys  have  attempted  to  explain  why  an  effective  remedy 
for  a  gigantic  evil  has  been  so  seldom  used,  by  the  excuse  that  in  all  the  cases 
the  proof  is  so  defective  that  a  conviction  could  not  be  had,  and  no  good  could 
be  effected  by  bringing  them  to  trial.  To  the  general  mind  it  would  appear  a 
not  impossible  task  to  obtain  the  necessary  evidence  at  least  once  a  year  against 
some  one  of  the  ninety  faro  houses,  and  by  the  condign  punishment  of  the 
conductors  of  that  one,  cause  all  their  fellows  to  flee  from  the  wrath  to  oome. 


100  THE  NETHER  SIDE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

For  thirty  years  there  Ims  been  n,  strong  conviction  in  tlie  public  mind  that  the 
comnmnity  can  be  saved  from  tlic  dangei'S  and  losses  of  faro  by  j^nnitive  law 
alone,  and  admiral)le  api)lianccs  to  this  end  having  long  ago  been  provided,  a 
day  must  soon  come  when  the  people  Avill  demand  of  their  servants  that  the 
law  shall  be  enforced  against  those  glittering,  fascinating  hells,  where 

Some  men  creep  in  skittish  fortune's  hall, 
While  others  play  the  idiots  in  her  eyes. 

Whenever  these  servants  conclude  to  enforce  the  law,  they  will  do  well  to 
commence  operations  with  the  establishment  of  "Big  Murray,"  lately  opened 
in  Eighth  street  jnst  east  of  BroadAvay.  For  comi^rehensive  gambling  this 
house  is  unequalled  in  New  York,  and  probably  not  surpassed  anywhere.  It 
is  a  large  five  story  and  basement  structure,  is  fitted  up  from  cellar  to  garret 
with  great  splendor,  and  every  possible  device  to  make  money  change  hands 
without  giving  its  value  in  return  can  be  found  within  its  walls.  Separate 
apartments  are  devoted  to  "faro,"  "roulette,"  "rouge  et  noir,"  "jwker,"  and 
even  the  vulgar  game  of  "  keno"  has  its  place.  Murray  boasts  of  his  "influ- 
ence," and  has  certainly  thus  far  escaped  molestation  by  the  police.  There 
are  ugly  stories  afloat  to  account  for  this  immunity,  which  may  be  as  untrue  as 
they  are  scandalous  if  true.  It  is  only  certain  that  all  these  games  are  carried 
on  nightly  under  the  one  roof  with  the  full  knowledge  of  the  police,  who  can- 
not be  supposed  to  be  ignorant  of  a  fact  which  is  of  common  notoriety.  An- 
other house  which  has  been  long  established  in  official  fovor,  is  No.  818  Broad- 
Avay,  known  as  the  "  Combination  Game,"  from  the  fact  that  it  has  several  pro- 
prietors, each  one  of  whom  is  a  professional  gambler  of  some  note.  It  is  a 
handsome  four  story  and  basement  brown-stone  edifice  in  the  most  public  j)or- 
tion  of  Broadway,  and  is  furnished  throughout  with  tasteful  elegance.  "  Faro  " 
is  the  principal  occupation  of  its  frequenters,  although,  as  in  all  first-class 
houses,  there  are  conveniences  for  "I'oulette"  and  all  short  card  games. 
There  have  been  two  or  three  pretended  attempts  by  the  authorities  to  close 
the  house  during  the  past  three  years,  the  last  of  which  was  plainly  incited  by 
a  political  pique  against  the  celebrated  John  Morrissey,  one  of  the  rejiuted 
owners.  But  the  raids  made  ujion  the  house  always  had  the  appearance  of 
being  intended  merely  as  momentary  annoyances,  and  were  certainly  never  any- 
thing else  in  fixct,  as  the  house  w'as  always  in  working  order  again  within  two  or 
three  days  after  these  raids,  and  was  allowed  to  go  on  again  for  many  months  with- 
out interference.  These  are  only  two  of  the  many  leading  gambling  dens  in  the 
city,  which  are  so  well  known  that  their  location  is  a  matter  of  common  knowl- 
edge. Any  patrolman  of  the  Twenty-ninth  Precinct  can,  and  most  of  them  will,  di- 
rect tlie  inauiring  stranger  to  the  almost  as  extensive  and  equally  alluring  houses 
in  the  same  neighborhood,  known  as  Ransom's  and  Chamberlain's ;  and  the  dens 
of  lower  gi'ade  so  numerous  in  Broadway  from  Bleecker  to  Tenth  street,  of  which 
that  of  Harvey  Youngs  is  a  fair  sample,  are  as  well  known  to  the  i3olice  and  pub- 
lic. These  are  a  few  of  the  many  places  which  occur  to  me  without  special  in- 
vestigation, and  what  is  so  generally  known  must  be  within  the  knowledge 
of  the  polioe.  Ignorance  of  the  location  of  the  houses  where  the  crime  of 
gambling  is  constantly  committed  cannot  therefore  be  jileaded,  and  the  police 
have  always  sought  for  some  other  excuse  for  their  inactivity.  The  one  most 
generally  advanced  is  the  difiiculty  of  obtaining  legal  evidence  of  some  specific 
act  of  gambling,  and  the  officials  who  use  it  do  not  seem  to  be  aware  that  it  is 
only  a  most  conclusive  proof  of  their  own  stupidity  or  insincerity. 


LOTTERY   GAMBLERS. 


BY  the  laws  of  New  York  all  lotteries  are  declared  to  be  common  and  piiblio 
nuisances,  and  all  persons  keeping  an  office  for  the  sale  of  lottery  tickets, 
or  in  any  way  aiding  and  abetting  in  tlie  sale  of  such  tickets,  are  made  liable 
to  fine  and  imprisonment.  Lawmakers  have  seldom  descended  to  such  detail 
as  they  have  in  the  statutes  of  the  State  of  New  York  against  lotteries  and 
gambling,  wliich  are  laboriously  and  carefully  drawn  to  make  violations  of 
them  impossible. 

While  these  statutes  have  stared  the  administrators  of  the  law  in  the  face 
for  more  tlian  a  generation  of  human  life,  no  offence  has  been  so  habitually  and 
openly  committed  in  the  city  of  New  York  as  dealing  in  lottery  tickets.  There 
is  scarcely  a  street  in  the  Avhole  city,  from  the  Battery  to  Harlem  Bridge,  wliere 
the  shops  of  the  lottery  dealers  cannot  be  fotind.  In  the  lowest  slums  and  in 
the  most  respectable  quarters,  in  the  midst  of  dwellings  and  among  the  great 
financial  institutions,  it  is  equally  impossible  to  avoid  the  shops,  concealed  un- 
der the  thinnest  possible  of  disguises,  where  tickets  are  sold  in  the  regular  lotter- 
ies, which  are  just  now  the  Havana,  the  Kentucky  State,  and  the  Paducah,  and 
where  also  you  may  play  ^Jolicy  in  any  way  and  for  any  amount  you  may 
choose. 

It  is  true  there  is  no  inscription  on  any  of  these  shops  proclaiming  the  pre- 
cise character  of  the  business  carried  on  within,  but  the  legend  they  do  bear 
has  long  been  so  generally  understood  that  the  words  "Exchange  Office"  have 
come  to  be  synonymous  with  lottery  office  when  found  upon  a  street  window 
under  circumstances  now  to  be  detailed.  In  every  case  where  the  words  given 
are  seen  upon  a  street  window,  and  the  curious  upon  entering  the  street  door 
sees  a  close  partition  four  or  five  feet  in  front  of  him  in  which  there  is  a  door, 
the  upper  part  of  which  is  of  frosted  glass,  he  has  but  to  open  and  pass  through 
this  door  and  state  his  desire  to  purchase  a  "Havana,"  "Kentucky,"  or 
"Paducah  "  to  have  those  of  the  day  spread  out  before  him  on  the  counter  with- 
out question  or  remark.  The  visitor,  looking  about  him,  will  notice  that  the 
inner  office  is  at  least  thrice  the  size  of  the  outer  one,  and  if  he  tarries  will  see 
that  no  business  whatever  is  transacted  in  the  latter.  Once  in  a  while  some 
bucolic  person  will  enter  and  ask  to  buy  gold  or  exchange ;  but  the  man  who 
steps  from  the  inner  shop,  with  a  tinge  of  contempt  for  the  excessive  verdancy 
of  his  customer  in  his  tone,  will  answer  shortly  to  the  effect  that  he  cannot  ac- 
commodate him,  and  hurry  back  to  his  proper  post  behind  the  partition.  No- 
ticing these  things,  you  become  convinced  of  what  you  before  suspected,  that 
it  is  the  sole  business  of  all  these  shops  to  vend  lottery  tickets  or  take  plays 
upon  "  policy." 

If  the  visitor  lingers  long  enough,  and  merely  keeps  his  eyes  open,  or  does 
better  and  avoids  suspicion  by  visits  on  successive  days  when  he  makes  pur- 
chases to  small  amounts  of  both  tickets  and  policy  slips,  he  will  very  soon 
come  to  understand  the  general  workings  of  the  little  game  he  is  observing. 
Having  obtained  my  knowledge  of  the  swindle  by  the  latter  method,  I  must  in- 
sist on  the  small  amoiints  to  any  reader  who  may  be  incited  to  follow  my  ex- 
ample, and  give  as  a  reason  that  he  has  about  one  chance  in  ninety  thousand 
to  get  his  money  back. 


102  THE  NETHER  SIDE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Tlie  price  of  a  full  Havana  lottery  ticket  is  tbirty-two  dollars,  but  it  is 
divided  into  tenth  and  twentieth  pai'ts,  each  pui'chasJible  at  a  proportionate 
price.  The  domestic  article  comes  cheaijer,  as  the  price  of  tickets  in  the 
most  expensive  "  schemes  "  is  but  ten  dollars,  and  you  can  get  half  or 
quarter  tickets  for  a  proportionate  sum.  Usually,  however,  the  cost  of 
wholes  is  but  five  dollars,  and  there  are  some  drawings  every  Aveek  when 
the  price  is  but  two  dollars  and  fifty  cents,  and  once  each  week  when  it  is 
but  one  dollar,  on  which  occasion  you  can  try  your  luck  for  the  fourth  of 
five  thousand  dollars  at  a  cost  of  only  twenty-five  cents,  less  a  discount  of 
fifteen  per  cent,  if  you  take  the  precaution  to  purchase  of  a  large  dealer. 
When  you  have  obtained  j'our  ticket,  whatever  may  be  its  cost  or  chances,  it 
will  have  three  numbers  printed  in  the  corner  and  across  the  face,  and  will 
have  a  promise  to  pay  whatever  prize  may  be  drawn  to  these  numbers  forty 
days  after  the  drawing,  which  is  particularly  specified  as  to  its  date  and  the 
number  of  its  class. 

To  the  thousands  who  constantlj'  have  one  or  more  of  such  bits  of  oblong 
paper  in  their  pockets  there  seems  to  be  a  strange  fiiscination  in  the  possession. 
Both  sexes,  all  ages,  from  childhood  to  the  decrepitude  of  years,  all  gi'ades 
and  races  of  mankind,  indulge  in  the  possibilities  represented  by  these  scraps, 
so  that  there  is  no  vice  more  generally  practised  than  that  of  gambling  in  lot- 
teries. It  is  perhaps  less  dangerous  to  its  votaries  and  not  so  inimical  to  the 
puV)lic  good  as  faro-gambling,  but  it  is  sufiiciently  hurtful  in  both  respects  to 
make  it  worth  while  to  have  the  laws  against  it  enforced.  While  a  few  of  the 
very  poor  and  some  of  the  extremely  rich  take  its  chances,  the  great  mass  of 
its  devotees  are  from  the  middle  classes,  who  are  sufficiently  refined  to  yearn 
for  something  more  than  the  comforts  of  life,  and  hence  crowd  the  dubious 
path  which  seems  to  ofi"er  the  chance  of  leading  to  sudden  wealth.  These  are 
mostly  young  men  who  have  been  well  reared,  and,  marrying  upon  slender 
means,  find  themselves  every  year  staggering  more  and  more  under  the  aug- 
menting burdens  of  an  inci'easing  family.  Nothing  is  more  natural  than  that 
they  should  seek  by  every  possible  means  to  avert  the  descent  in  social  condi- 
tion which  is  the  inevitable  corollary  of  such  circumstances.  The  man  who 
has  been  well  housed,  well  dressed,  well  fed,  and  surrounded  in  his  home  with 
some  of  the  appliances  of  refined  life,  is  appalled  when  lie  finds  at  the  end  of 
the  year  that  he  has  exceeded  his  income  and  must  curtail  his  expenses.  The 
horrors  of  the  tenements  or  the  shabljy  gentility  of  lodgings  staring  him  in  the 
face,  he  kicks  against  his  fate  with  something  of  desperation  in  the  efibrt.  The 
man  of  nerve  finding  himself  in  this  condition  seeks  to  better  himself  by  le- 
gitimate operations,  and  tries  desperate  ventures  which  make  or  l^reak  him 
with  bewildering  rapidity.  But  the  weak  man,  who  has  nothing  in  his  nature 
wherewith  he  can  buft'et  fortune,  broods  over  his  misfortunes  until  at  last  the 
happy  thought  sti-ikes  him  and  he  hastens  off  to  buy  a  lottery  ticket.  "When 
his  ticket  proves  a  blank,  as  it  is  sure  to  do,  he  clutches  at  the  delusion  of  bet- 
ter luck  next  time,  and  he  buys  again  and  again,  until  his  substance  is  all  gone 
and  he  has  sadly  illusti'ated  the  inspired  truth :  '•  Unto  every  one  that  hath  shall 
be  given,  but  from  him  that  hath  not  shall  be  taken  away  even  that  which  he 
hath."  Side  by  side  with  these  ne'er-do-weels  are  other  buyers  of  a  totally 
different  stuup.  There  are  hundreds  of  men  who  constantly  but  carefully  in- 
vest in  the  delusive  bits  of  paper  and  give  to 

airy  nothings 

A  local  habitation  and  a  name, 

from  their  reveries  based  upon  the  mere  possession.     Slowly  but  steadily 


LOTTERY  GAMBLERS.  103 

accumnlatin<^  by  their  regular  avocations,  they  are  in  haste  to  be  rich,  and  are 
impelled  to  lotteries  by  the  same  cause  which,  acting  in  a  different  way,  drives 
others  into  Wall  street  gambling,  and  still  others  into  opening  a  bank  with  a 
crowbar.  They  buy  nearly  every  day,  always  twice  or  thrice  in  each  week,  but 
rarely  invest  sums  large  enough  to  pinch  them  by  the  loss.  They  are  incor- 
rigible believers  in  the  proverb  that  "  it  is  a  long  lane  Avhich  has  no  turn,"  and 
they  confidently  believe  that  each  ticket  will  bring  them  to  that  turn.  They 
•constantly  harbor  and  often  cite  the  case  of  the  man  who  commenced  buying 
lottery  tickets  when  a  mere  boy  and  kept  it  iip  year  after  year  until  at  last  he 
secured  a  $30,000  prize,  whereujjon,  remarking  sententiously  tliat  "  lightning 
never  strikes  the  same  ti'ee  twice,"  he  at  once  and  forever  abandoned  the  prac- 
tice.    They  all  intend  to  imitate  him. 

These  are  only  generalizations  of  lottery  buyers,  who  may  be  classified  in  re- 
gard to  special  characteristics  in  much  more  numerous  subdivisions.  There 
is  the  man  who  once  secured  a  small  prize,  and  has  since  spent  twenty  fold  its 
amount  in  the  vain  hoj^e  of  obtaining  a  successor  of  more  respectable  propor- 
tions. There  is  the  man  who  knows  a  man  who  heard  a  fellow  talking  of  an- 
other fellow  he  once  knew  who  had  drawn  a  "capital,"  and  he  cites  the  misty 
tradition  as  a  certain  sign  that  he  is  sure  to  have  the  same  luck.  There  is  the 
man  who  saw  the  new  moon  over  his  right  shoulder  the  previous  evening,  and 
augurs  from  the  accident  that  he  is  to  have  a  good  run  of  luck.  There  is  the 
man  who  wooes  the  goddess  Fortune  in  dashing  haphazard  style,  and  pulling 
out  the  first  ticket  he  happens  to  get  his  fingers  on,  resolutely  turns  his  eyes 
ceilingward  so  that  he  can  thrust  it  into  his  pocket  without  seeing  what  num- 
bers it  bears;  he  has  an  unfaltering  belief  that  this  way  of  doing  the  thing  is 
vastly  superior  to  any  other,  and  is  certain  to  bring  a  prize  sooner  or  later. 
There  is  the  man  who  is  an  exact  opposite,  and  makes  the  selection  of  his  ticket 
a  matter  of  close  calculation  of  chances  by  looking  over  the  drawings  for  a 
number  of  days  to  get  precise  information  as  to  what  numbers  have  been 
drawn,  and  from  this  shadowy  foundation  divine  what  ones  will  be  drawn. 
He  is  a  devout  believer  in  the  solemnly  uttered  axiom  of  the  lottery  dealer 
that  during  the  year  each  number  is  drawn  an  equal  number  of  times ;  and  if 
any  one  lias  not  been  drawn  for  sevei'al  days,  he  begins  to  purchase  tickets 
bearing  it  with  an  unquestioning  faith  that  is  anmsing  to  an  unbeliever.  There 
is  another  man,  however,  whose  faith  in  his  powers  of  divination  is  as  amazing 
as  the  case  cited  is  amusing;  and  this  is  the  individual  who  is  certain  that  a 
selected  combination  of  numbers  is  sure  to  be  drawn,  and  Avho  rushes  in  fren- 
zied haste  from  one  office  to  another  looking  for  the  ticket  bearing  it,  and,  in- 
consolable if  he  does  not  find  it,  nevertheless  does  not  let  fortune  give  him 
the  slip  altogether,  but  plays  the  numbers  in  that  delusive  game  called  policy, 
which  is  to  be  described.  This  sort  of  buyer  can  never  be  mistaken.  He  is 
the  person  who  rushes  into  an  office,  eagerly  calls  for  the  "  Kentuckys,"  hastily 
looks  over  the  tickets,  departs  as  hui'riedly  as  he  came,  and  of  whom  the  man 
behind  the  counter  remarks,  before  he  is  fairly  out  of  ear-shot,  "  One  of  the 
sharps — he's  goin'  for  a  sure  thing." 

These,  however,  are  but  mild  types  of  a  superstitious  credulity  tliat  would  be 
incredible  to  any  one  not  fi^miliar  with  the  interior  of  a  lottery  office.  In  each 
one  of  these  of  the  lower  grades  is  kept  a  small  volume  which  has  the  allui-ing 
title,  "Wheel  of  Fortune,"  and  no  other  book  has  been  so  eagerly  and  devoutly 
read  by  so  many  thousands.  It  is  the  book  of  the  dreamers,  and  pretends  to 
give  the  numbers  which  represent  not  only  every  possible  phase  of  I'ationnl 
action,  but  all  imaginable  phantasma  of  troubled  sleep.      There  is  nothixi^' 


104  THE  XETIIER  SIDE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

man  or  woman  can  do  or  omit  to  do,  nothing  the}'  can  eoiijare  up  in  the  shnn- 
ber  of  indigestion,  but  the  "  Wheel  of  Fortune  "  has  the  numbers  whicli  will 
play  for  it.  If  a  man  reading  Darwin  goes  to  bed  and  dreams  his  grandfather 
was  an  ape,  the  book  tells  him  what  numbers  he  must  choose  to  win  a  prize. 
If  a  late  and  heavy  sup^jer  produces  a  sense  of  suffocation  that  leads  the  slum- 
berer  to  take  the  principal  part  in  a  hanging  scene,  the  book  tells  him  how  to 
make  liis  nightmare  pay  a  handsome  sum.  There  is  a  general  but  entirely 
eil'oueous  idea  tliat  this  lowest  manifestation  of  superstition  is  coiilined  to  ne- 
groes. It  is  true  that  that  impressionable  race  are  almost  invarialjly  its  victims, 
but  I  have  seen  hundreds  of  white  men  consult  the  oracle  and  unflinchingly  act 
upon  its  suggestions.  Nor  have  theS^  men  always  or  even  generally  been, 
judging  from  their  appearance,  of  the  ignorant  or  debased  class.  Persons  of 
fair  education,  of  average  intellectual  gifts,  and  of  tolerable  judgment  in  ordi- 
nar}'  affairs,  have  been  the  victims  of  this  delusion.  I  have  never  observed  any 
one  case  long  enough  to  know  the  fact  positively,  but  I  have  been  told  and  can 
readily  believe,  that  once  fiiirly  seized  by  tills  delusion  the  victims  never  after- 
wards escape  from  it.  Although  every  day  of  every  year  the  oracle  is  jwoved 
a  sham,  they  cling  to  it  year  after  year,  and  pin  their  faith  to  it  so  long  as  they 
can  Scrape  together  the  pitiful  sum  necessar}-  to  purchase  the  ticket  it  indicates 
as  sure  to  win. 

Among  these  victims  can  be  found  the  pitiful  and  warning  examples  of  the 
lottery  mania.  No  long-established  ofS^ce  is  free  from  the  wreck  of  a  former 
patron  who  has  grown  prematurely  old,  and  whose  mere  aj^pearance  plain- 
tively illustrates  the  truth  that  hope  deferred  maketh  the  heart  sick.  This  is  a 
man  who  bought  lottery  tickets  until  he  spent  his  last  cent,  and,  though  unable 
longer  to  feed  his  delusion,  yet  cannot  quit  the  scene  of  his  many  disappoint- 
ments. He  finds  his  only  solace  in  life  to  be  gazing  upon  the  daily  drawing, 
and  imagining  what  millions  he  might  have  had  if  he  had  only  had  the  money 
to  buy  those  three  numbers  which  he  knew  beforehand  were  sure  to  head  the 
list  in  this  identical  drawing.  I  have  seen  scores  of  such  creatures  Avho  eke 
out  their  miserable  lives  by  begging  for  food  and  raiment,  and  b}^  doing  odd 
jobs  of  work  manage  to  obtain  shelter  and  to  save  the  few  j^ennies  re- 
quired to  again  tempt  outrageous  fortune.  One  whom  I  saw  every  time  I  en- 
tered a  small  office  on  a  side  street  I  was  told  had  been  a  patron  for  years  of 
several  shops,  and  a  lounger  in  the  one  in  which  I  saw  him  for  months.  His 
gaunt  face  with  its  sharp  angles,  and  his  coarse,  j^atched  clothing,  told  of  extreme 
poverty,  yet  this  man  had  once  been  possessed  of  a  competence.  He  had  never 
been  addicted  to  dissipation,  liad  been  abstemious  in  all  his  habits,  to  tlie  ex- 
tent that  he  had  denied  liimself  many  of  the  comforts  of  life  even  wlion  he  had 
ample  means  to  obtain  them ;  j-et  lie  was  a  pauper,  and  made  such  by  his  own 
weakness.  All  that  he  possessed  had  gone  into  the  tills  of  the  lottery  dealers, 
where  it  had  produced  nothing  but  gorgeous  phantasms  of  sudden  wealth 
which  were  never  to  be  realized.  But  this  old  man  was  still  sanguine  that  he 
was  to  clutcli  the  purse  of  Fortunatus,  and  tliatsome  day  a  stray  penny  luckily 
invested  was  to  return  to  him  in  a  few  hours  multiplied  a  hundred  fold,  and 
this  product  being  reinvested  was  to  yield  alike  quick  and  large  return,  until  in 
a  few  days  he  was  to  be  a  moneyed  power  in  tlie  land.  And  meantime  he 
filled  the  air  with  liis  magnificent  castles.  His  shabby  raiment  became  the 
most  costly  vestments,  his  squalid  lodging  expanded  into  a  grand  palace,  and 
his  coarse  food  begged  at  area  doors  became  dainty  A'iands.  This  old  man 
was  a  perft^ct  type  of  the  lottery  l)uyer,  and  illustrated  very  shari)ly  the  evil 
effects  of  the  mania.     No  experience  could  wean  him  from  his  delusion      At 


LOTTERY  GAMBLERS.  105 

the  end  of  years  of  disappointment,  when  he  was  banki'upt  alike  in  friends  and 
substance,  lie  was  certain  as  he  had  ever  been  that  to-morrow,  or  possibly  the 
next  day,  but  surely  before  the  end  of  the  week,  he  should  get  back  all  he  had 
ever  spent,  increased  many  fold.  Once  I  saw  a  poor  twittering  bird  jumping 
nervously,  and  with  every  mark  of  intense  fear,  along  the  limb  of  a  tree  toward 
tlie  head  of  a  huge  black  snake,  which  was  coiled  and  motionless  a  few  feet 
away.  I  do  not  assert  that  the  reptile  was  "charming"'  the  bird,  for  the  possi- 
bility of  the  achievement  is  denied  in  respectable  quarters,  nor  do  I  know  how 
the  bird  would  have  fared  in  the  end,  for  a  lucky  cast  of  a  stone  brought  the 
snake  to  the  ground  and  speedy  death ;  but  I  do  know  that  I  never  saw  that 
I^oor  old  man  drawn  by  a  fascination  he  could  not  resist  to  the  lottery  wheel, 
but  I  thought  of  the  twittermg  bird  hopping  toward  the  terrible  eye  of  the  huge 
serpent. 

Tliis  old  man  has  been  cited  only  as  an  example  and  not  as  an  unusual  in- 
cident of  lottery  scenes.  There  are  hundreds  like  him,  and  no  one  among 
them  can  be  made  to  understand  the  enormous  chances  against  him  in  the 
desperate  game  he  is  playing.  It  is  useless  to  tell  him  that  his  one  ticket  has 
but  one  combination  out  of  78,000,  and  that  he  has  therefore  just  77,999  chances 
against  him  for  the  capital  prize,  which  is  the  one  he  is  constantly  expecting  to 
win.  Pages  of  explanation  would  not  clearly  show  the  character  of  these  lot- 
tery schemes,  but  a  general  idea  of  them  may  be  had  by  a  knowledge  that  the 
drawing  is  thirteen  numbers  out  of  seventy-eight,  that  the  first  three  constitute 
the  capital  prize,  the  second  three  the  next  largest  prize,  and  after  the  regular 
order  is  exhausted  that  the  first,  third,  and  fourth  di'awn,  and  others  taken  on 
tlie  same  principle,  constitute  the  smaller  three-number  prizes.  The  two-num- 
ber prizes  are  made  up  in  the  same  way;  and  finally  come  the  single-number 
prizes,  which  are  the  sums  paid  for  the  tickets  less  fifteen  per  cent.,  and  one  of 
which  is  accorded  to  every  ticket  having  on  it  any  one  of  the  drawn  numbers 
without  reference  to  its  place  in  the  drawing. 

It  is  necessary  to  add  that  the  Kentucky  lottery  is  drawn  twice  each  day  by 
commissioners  at  Covington,  Kentucky,  and  is  duly  authorized  by  that  State. 
I  witnessed  a  drawing  several  years  ago,  and  found  it  to  all  appearances  a 
marvellously  proper  proceeding,  but  painfully  tedious.  The  Avheel  was  of 
glass,  and  stood  where  all  the  spectators  cotild  see  that  at  the  commencement 
of  the  operation  it  was  absolutely  empty.  As  the  first  stej^,  one  of  the  com- 
missioners picked  up  the  numbers  from  one  to  seventy-eight  successively,  and 
having  held  them  up  to  the  view  of  the  audience,  which  on  that  occasion  was 
composed  of  a  small  negro  boy  and  myself,  rolled  up  the  pasteboards  on 
which  the  numbers  were  printed,  and,  putting  each  one  in  a  small  brass  tube 
open  at  both  ends,  dropped  it  into  the  wheel.  When  all  the  numbers  had  been 
thus  disposed  of,  the  aperture  in  the  wheel  was  closed  and  locked,  after  whicli 
another  comiriissioner  turned  the  wheel  rapidly  several  times  in  both  direc- 
tions so  as  to  mix  the  numbers  thoroughly.  A  blind  boy  whose  arms  were 
bare  to  the  shoulder  was  then  led  up  to  the  wheel,  and,  the  ajserture  having 
been  opened,  thrust  in  his  hand,  took  out  one  of  the  brass  tubes,  and  handed  it 
to  one  of  the  three  commissioners.  This  ofiicial  took  out  the  pasteboard,  and 
having  displayed  the  number  upon  it  called  it  out  to  a  clerk,  who  wrote  it  down 
and  bellowed  it  in  his  turn  to  a  telegi'aph  operator  standing  at  his  instrument 
in  a  remote  corner  of  the  room.  All  this  having  been  done,  the  wheel  was 
again  closed  and  turned  twice  around.  This  operation,  with  the  one  before  de- 
scribed, was  repeated  until  all  of  the  thirteen  numbers  of  the  scheme  had  been 
drawn,  and  the  proceedings  were  then  concluded  by  the  commissioners  sign- 


106  THE  NETHER  SIDE  OF  XEW  YORK. 

ing  a  certificate,  stating  the  time  and  place  of  the  drawing,  the  numbers 
'placed  in  the  wheel,  what  ones  were  drawn,  and  the  order  in  which  they  were 
drawn.  The  certificate  is  a  printed  form,  and  copies  of  it  can  be  found  iu  evexy 
oliice  in  New  York  Avhere  the  tickets  of  the  lottery  are  sold. 

Anything  more  fair  than  the  drawing  it  was  imiiossible  to  imagine,  and  I 
am  forced  to  the  conclusion  that  the  fraud  of  the  thing  is  in  the  scheme  itself, 
and  not  in  its  practical  operation.  Tlie  numbers  drawn  are  telegraphed  simul- 
taneousl}-  to  all  the  large  cities  to  an  agent  of  tlie  managers,  by  whom  they  are 
printed  in  certificates  like  that  given  and  distributed  to  all  the  ofiices,  so  that 
the  results  of  the  drawings  are  found  in  these  places  at  noon  and  at  five  o'clock 
in  the  afternoon  of  each  day,  or  an  hour  after  each  drawing.  It  is  therefore 
not  probable  that  any  frauds  are  attemiJted  in  the  publication  of  the  drawn 
numbers,  as  the  drawing  follows  so  quickly  on  the  closing  of  the  books  that 
neither  tiie  agents  nor  the  dealers  can  tell  what  tickets  have  been  sold,  and  it 
is  impossible  to  guard  against  the  selling  of  a  prize  by  frauduleutlj''  altering 
the  numbers ;  and  the  risk  is  so  small  that  it  is  not  worth  while  to  avoid  it  by 
cheating.  As  to  the  risk  of  each  of  the  three-number  prizes,  the  managers  have 
nearly  a  hundred  thousand  chances  to  one  against  each  of  their  customers,  and 
hold  almost  equtilly  tremendous  odds  against  them  for  the  two-number  prizes. 
For  the  single-number  prizes,  wliirh  are  merely  nominal  in  amount,  the  chanoes 
are  more  nearly  equal,  and  the  deluded  buyers  are  lured  on  to  additional  pur- 
chases by  securing  one  of  these  trifles.  The  argument  they  use  to  satisfy 
themselves  is,  that  having  got  their  money  back  they  are  making  these  further 
ventures  with  the  money  of  the  managers ;  for  they  do  not  remember  that  the 
fifteen  per  cent,  is  deducted  from  each  prize,  no  matter  how  small,  and  that 
they  ai"e  doomed  to  lose  that  amount  in  any  event.  While  the  securing  of 
either  of  the  large  prizes  is  a  possible  event,  there  is  nothing  so  improbable.  I 
have  never  heard  of  but  one  well-autlienticated  case  where  the  cajiital  in  the 
Kentucky  was  sold  in  New  York,  and  the  sale  of  the  smaller  prizes  is  so  infre- 
quent that  the  fact  is  blazoned  ujjon  the  certificates  for  weeks  afterward.  It  often 
hap2)ens  of  course  that  prize  tickets  are  returned  unsold  by  the  dealers,  and 
this  circumstance  also  attains  the  dignity  of  large  tyjje  on  the  certificates,  for 
the  purpose  I  suppose  of  convincing  the  patrons  that  they  have  failed  to  take 
fortune  at  the  flood  by  neglecting  to  buy  all  attainable  tickets. 

Before  proceeding  to  mention  the  other  lotteries,  I  must  expose  the  game 
of  "  policy,"  which  depends  for  its  results  upon  the  drawings  of  the  Kentucky 
or  some  other  combination  lottery.  No  game  is  more  generally  played,  none 
presents  such  enormous  odds  against  the  player,  and  none  is  so  peculiar  in  its 
tecluiical  terms.  The  principal  of  the  latter  are  "  saddle,"  "  gig,"  "  flat  gig," 
and  "  horse,"  each  of  which  has  a  distinctive  meaning,  easy  of  attainment  by 
the  player,  but  difiicult  to  convey  to  the  reader.  A  player  has  a  "  saddle  '* 
when  any  two  of  the  numbers  he  selects  are  drawn,  a  "  gig"  when  three  of 
his  numbers  come  out,  and  a  "horse"  when  the  four  appear;  but  he  has  a 
better  chance  to  acquire  Dexter,  or  any  otlier  carefully-guarded  steed,  than  lie 
has  to  attain  this  highly  apocryphal  anininl.  A  "flat  gig"  is  tliree  nmu- 
bers  jilayed  for  all  three  to  be  drawn,  and  gets  its  name,  I  presume,  from  the 
fact  that  it  is  played  hj  nobody  but  fools,  who  are  known  in  the  dialect  com- 
mon to  detectives  and  thieves  as  "flats."  Yet  no  pjiase  of  "  policy  "  is  more 
common,  and  there  are  thousands  who  trust  to  luck  so  implicitly  that  they  will 
2)ersist  in  playing  tlie  gig  flat,  when  by  also  playing  for  the  saddles,  of  which 
there  are  three  in  the  gig,  they  might  increase  their  cliances  of  M'inning  some- 
thing to  a  prodigious  extent.    Lest  the  general  reader  may  be  unable  to  fathom 


LOTTERY  GAMBLERS.  107 

this  mystery,  I  will  illustrate  it  by  supposing  that  the  player  selects  7 — 18 — 25, 
and  plaj-s  them  for  the  liat  gig.  To  win  anj-thing,  all  the  numbers  must  be 
drawn ;  but  suppose  he  also  saddles  the  numbers,  he  will  win  proportionately  if 
either  7 — 18,  7 — 25,  or  25 — 18  hajjpen  to  come  from  the  wheel.  He  maj'  again 
increase  his  chances  by  also  playing  for  the  single  numbers ;  and  if  he  should 
play  each  of  them  say  for  one  dollar,  the  saddles  for  fifty  cents  each,  and  the 
gig  for  twenty-five  cents  only,  he  would  be  indulging  in  a  tolerably  sensible 
gambling  operation. 

I  once  met  a  gorgeous  youth  in  a  policy  oflice,  who  took  me  into  his  confi- 
dence so  far  as  to  inform  me  that  by  adhering  to  this  system  and  never  chang- 
irig  his  numbers  he  had  made  a  very  comfortable  living,  but  I  didn't  Ijelieve 
him.  I  admit,  however,  that  a  jjlayer  of  iron  nerve  and  inexliaustible  purse 
might  in  the  end  beat  the  bankers  of  the  game  with  this  system  by  simply 
doubling  his  ventures  every  time  he  lost,  and  never  omitting  a  single  drawing 
in  his  pliij  •  but  I  never  heard  of  anybody  doing  it,  and  do  not  believe  it  ever 
can  be  done. 

T\\e  game  is  so  entirely  safe  for  the  bankers  that  immense  odds  are  given  the 
players,  in  promises  at  least.  For  single  numbers  they  pay  four  dollars  for  one ; 
for  saddles,  forty  for  one ;  for  gigs,  three  hundred  for  one ;  and  for  horses,  about 
five  hundred  for  one.  If  the  player  undertakes  to  name  the  first  number  to  be 
drawn  at  any  lottery,  the  policy  bankers  agree  to  pay  him,  if  he  succeeds,  one 
thousand  dollars  for  the  om  he  paj-s  them;  but,  as  may  be  imagined,  they  are. 
rarely  called  upon  to  redeem  their  promises.  But  this  play  is  unusual,  as  even 
the  most  sanguine  of  players  have  little  faith  in  their  ability  to  select  at  nine 
o'clock  in  the  morning  the  number  that  a  blind  youth  will  pick  first  out  of 
seventy-eight  two  hours  later.  They  are  as  able  to  do  it  as  to  do  any  of  the 
other  tilings  they  confidently  expect  to  perform,  but  they  cannot  be  made  to 
l^elieve  so.  The  policy-players  are  the  most  radical  of  fatalists  as  a  general 
rule.  To  a  greater  extent  even  than  lottery-buyers  they  depend  upon  the  signs 
and  portents  found  in  dreams,  or  in  the  most  trivial  accidents  or  incidents  of 
their  waking  hours,  to  determine  their  play.  The  "  Wheel  of  Fortune  "  stands 
them  in  good  stead,  and  few  of  the  habitual  players  make  a  venture  Avithout 
consulting  that  oracle.  Negroes  ai'e  the  most  constant  of  policy-players,  but 
hardly  the  most  profitable  to  the  bankers,  as  their  investments  are  usually  very 
small.  They  generally  confine  such  operations  within  twenty-five  cents,  which 
they  judiciously  divide  between  the  "saddles"  and  "gigs,"  as  five  cents  is  usu- 
ally their  limit  as  to  the  latter.  Every  day  the  policy  shops  in  Thompson 
and  Sullivan  streets  are  crowded  with  negroes  of  both  sexes,  and  it  is  a  com- 
mon thing  for  the  "  book  "  of  the  dealer  not  to  exceed  five  dollars  for  every 
drawing  when  he  is  apparently  doing  an  immense  business.  While  few  of  his 
customers  exceed  the  amount  I  have  named,  many  of  them  play  one  cent  on 
saddles  and  three  cents  on  gigs,  and  revel  until  the  drawing  arrives  in  the  an- 
ticipation of  getting  foi'ty  cents  or  nine  dollars  by  the  venture.  As  the  hour 
approaches  wlienthe  return  of  the  dramng  is  expected,  tliese  players  gather 
in  great  force  at  the  various  shops,  and  the  probabilities  are  eagerly  discussed. 
If,  as  often  happens,  any  number  has  not  been  out  for  several  days,  there  are  a 
good  many  cents  bet  on  its  appearance,  and  the  excitement  is  intense.  Sometimes 
a  mania  seizes  the  entire  fraternity  of  colored  players  to  play  some  particular 
"flat  gig,"  which  is  genei-ally  4 — 11 — ii,  and  the  numbers  being  sure  to  be 
drawn  only  after  everybody  has  been  tired  out  and  quit  betting  on  them,  their 
appearance  evokes  a  storm  that  is  comical  in  its  intensity  when  its  occasion 
is  remembered. 


108  THE  XETIIER  SIDE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

But  no  class  of  i^layers  is  free  from  the  infatuation  which  the  game  pro- 
duces. The  most  open  kind  of  gambling  2)i';ietiscd  in  New  York,  policy  is 
also  the  most  hurtful  in  its  general  eftects.  It  absorbs  a  vast  capital,  and  every 
day  takes  bread  from  the  mouths  of  hungry  children.  It  beggars  the  rich  and 
converts  poverty  into  pauperism.  It  propagates  slothfulness  and  idleness,  and 
next  to  the  rum  shops  does  more  than  any  other  agency  in  the  metropolis  to 
fill  its  almshouses.  Having  scores  of  customers  where  one  is  a  buyer  of  tho 
lottery  tickets,  the  evil  engendered  by  polic3'-playing  is  by  far  the  more  seri- 
ous of  the  two.  There  is  no  possibility  of  giving  the  exact  sum  of  money 
which  is  annually  entombed  in  policy  or  lottery,  but  an  approximation  can  be 
made  which  will  show  a  total  large  enough  to  deserve  attention.  Lottery  and 
policy  are  almost  inseparable  companions,  and  there  are  few  offices,  except 
those  selling  the  Havana  exclusively,  that  do  not  deal  in  both  tickets  and  policy 
slips.  The  number  of  such  offices  fluctuates  greatly  in  the  city  of  New  York,  but 
the  average  has  been  three  hundred  and  fifty  during  the  jiast  two  years.  These 
must  all  average  a  business  of  at  least  ten  dollars  per  6iij  in  receipts  to  much 
more  than  pay  current  expenses,  and  I  have  no  doubt  that  the  average  is  much 
larger,  as  there  are  few  shops  which  have  less,  and  there  are  many  -where  the 
business  is  many  times  greater.  But  keeping  within  safe  bounds,  it  is  easy 
to  calculate  that  these  offices  must  withdraw  from  productive  industry  in 
the  city  of  New  York  alone  three  thousand  five  hundred  dollars  per  day,  or 
a  little  more  than  one  million  of  dollars  per  annum,  I  am  aware  that  the 
United  States  Internal  Revenue  Service  might  be  supposed  to  have  some 
statistics  of  lotteries  for  the  purposes  of  taxation,  but  they  ai'e  necessarily  so 
imperfect  that  I  am  convinced  that  my  estimates,  founded  upon  observation  of 
the  shops,  are  equally  valuable.  However  great  may  be  the  amount  annually 
sucked  up  by  these  swindles,  it  is  certain  that  it  is  no  less  than  I  have  stated. 
It  is  more  difficult  to  be  jjrecise  as  to  the  number  of  persons  from  whom  tliis 
vast  sum  is  drawn.  There  are  thousands  of  casual  dabblers  in  the  possibili- 
ties of  the  wheel,  who  buy  half  a  dozen  lottery  tickets  or  jjolicy  slips  perhaps 
in  the  course  of  a  year,  and  there  are  thousands  of  occasional  buyers  w^ho 
venture  into  the  uncertainties  once  or  twice  per  week.  There  are  other  thou- 
sands who  are  habitual  buj^ers  so  long  as  they  have  the  means ;  and  it  is  per- 
haps safe  to  sajr  that  there  are  thirty  thousand  difi^erent  jjersons  Avho  every  year 
contribute  to  the  lottery  leeches.  This  would  seem  to  give  an  average  of  only 
about  thirty  dollars  per  annum  as  the  contribution  of  each  person ;  but  it  is  a 
deceptive  calculation,  because  of  the  great  disproportion  between  the  expendi- 
tures of  the  dillerent  classes  named.  Some  of  the  casual  buyers  spend  only  a 
dollar  or  two,  many  of  the  occasional  not  more  than  five  dollars,  and  the  bulk 
of  the  annual  amount  is  handed  over  by  the  habituals.  It  must  be  remem- 
bered that  I  am  sjieaking  now  only  of  the  Kentucky  and  other  three- number 
lotteries,  which  are  the  only  ones  which  have  policy  for  an  allj^  The  H:i- 
vana  and  special  schemes  yet  to  be  mentione'd  absorb  as  much  more  of  the 
capital  of  the  country. 

Tliei'e  is  a  great  diffin-ence  between  the  schemes  which  have  been  described 
and  the  Royal  Havana  Lott(!ry  of  Cuba.  The  former  are  formed  of  three-num- 
ber combinations,  are  drawn  twice  each  day,  and  in  the  daj's  of  wildcat  banks, 
whatever  may  be  the  fact  now,  paid  their  priz;es  in  depreciated  paper  money. 
The  Havana,  on  the  other  hand,  is  a  single-number  lottery,  is  drawn  only  once 
in  every  seventeen  days,  and  pays  all  prizes  in  gold.  As  a  lottery  it  is  respect- 
able, but  althougli  openly  advertised  1j}^  three  firms  in  Wall  and  Broad  streets 
calling  tliemselves  bankers,  it  is  nothing  but  a  lottery      I  am  not  familiar  with 


LOTTERY  GAMBLERS.  109 

its  working,  but  hare  been  assured  on  good  authority  that  it  is  honorably  man- 
aged. There  is  no  better  chance,  however,  for  the  patrons  to  get  prizeti  than 
in  the  other  schemes,  and  I  need  cite  no  stronger  proof  of  the  trutli  of  tliis  as- 
sertion, than  the  ftict  that  a  tenth  of  the  extra  capital  prize  of  $200,000  gold 
sold  in  this  city  in  April  of  1871,  was  advertised  by  one  of  the  bankers 
alluded  to  for  nearly  a  year  afterward.  But  while  the  Havana  is  tolerable 
as  compared  with  the  Kentucky,  there  are  some  special  schemes  which  are 
much  worse  than  the  latter,  as  they  are  usually  barefaced  swindles,  organ- 
ized and  managed  with  the  sole  purj^ose  of  cheating.  There  is  always  one  or 
more  of  these  enterprises  before  the  public,  ojienly  advertised  and  never  inter- 
fered with.  They  usually  take  the  shape  of  gift  concerts,  and  always  j)retend 
to  be  for  the  benefit  of  some  charity  or  legitimate  industrial  enterprise.  Some 
of  them  are  on  the  most  gigantic  scale,  and  permeate  the  whole  country,  while 
others  are  petty  frauds  and  intended  to  swindle  only  the  metropolis.  The 
Chicago  fire  has  been  the  excuse  for  several,  and  the  exhaustion  of  the  South  by 
the  war  gave  birth  to  scores,  of  which  some  are  yet  in  existence,  appeal- 
ing by  huge  placards  on  their  oflices  to  the  credulity  of  the  people,  to  at  once 
enrich  themselves  and  benefit  their  brethren  of  the  South,  by  purchasing  tick- 
ets in  the  Monster  Gift  Concert  for  the  benefit  of  some  named  locality.  It  is 
the  leading  peculiarity  of  these  concerts  that  they  are  postponed  from  time  to 
time,  and  usually  never  are  given.  Some,  however,  hav6  occurred,  and  pre- 
tence has  been  made  of  distributing  the  announced  prizes,  bvit  none  of  the  ticket- 
holders  were  much  the  richer  for  the  operation.  Some  of  these  enterprises  are, 
however,  such  outrageous  frauds  that  the  police  are  forced  to  close  them  sum- 
marily. The  last  of  these  was  a  grand  distribution  of  "  elegant "  furniture  and 
"splendid"  paintings,  which  was  opened  in  an  immense  store  on  Broadway, 
and  to  Avhich  the  public  was  attracted  by  a  band  of  music  and  huge  posters. 
About  half  the  articles  in  the  j)lace  bore  placards  announcing  the  name  of  the 
lucky  individuals  who  had  drawn  them.  The  proprietors  seemed  to  violate 
the  law  by  having  a  drawing  on  the  premises,  but  the  Avheel,  being  seized  by 
the  police  and  examined,  was  found  to  contain  nothing  but  blanks.  The  man- 
agers were  able  to  show  that  there  was  no  chance  whatever  in  their  operations, 
but  the  public  also  got  a  knowledge  of  the  interesting  fact,  and  although  the 
swindlers  escaped  the  penalties  of  the  law,  they  were  forced  by  a  lack  of  cus- 
tomers to  hastily  abandon  their  enterprise. 

This  was  the  only  efibrt  made  of  late  years  to  interfere  with  any  of  these 
special  schemes,  and  only  once  within  the  last  five  years  has  any  attempt  been 
made  by  the  police  to  enforce  the  law  against  the  regular  lotteries.  In  the 
summer  of  1870  a  raid  was  made  simultaneously  on  all  the  ofiices  in  the  city. 
Like  all  such  affairs,  the  raid  was  barren  of  the  result  which  it  was  claimed  it 
was  intended  to  secure.  All  the  lottery  dealers  were  required  to  give  bail  for 
trial ;  few  of  them  were  ever  tried,  none  were  ever  punished.  The  oflices,  it 
was  grandly  announced,  had  been  efi'ectually  closed  by  the  energetic  action  of 
the  police,  and  they  remained  closed  exactly  one  day.  The  next  day  after  the 
raid  they  were  again  in  operation  as  usual,  and  have  remained  so  until  the 
present  day.  If  there  was  any  earnest  desire  to  put  a  stop  to  this  traffic,  noth- 
ing could  be  more  easy  of  accomplishment.  The  necessary  proof  of  the  viola- 
tion of  the  law  against  lotteries  could  be  obtained  any  day  against  any  of  these 
dealers,  and  it  would  only  require  a  little  persistency  to  utterly  extirpate  them. 
The  spasmodic  raids  do  so  little  good  that  it  is  difficult  to  believe  that  they  are 
intended  to  accomplish  any. 


TENEMENT  LTFE. 


AS  we  stopped  in  Cherry  street  at  the  entrance  to  Gotham  Court,  and 
Detective  Finn  dug  a  tunnel  of  light  with  his  bullseye  lantern  into  the 
foulness  and  bhickness  of  that  smirch  on  civilization,  a  score  or  more  of  boys 
wlio  had  been  congregated  at  the  edge  of  the  court  suddenly  plunged  back  into 
the  obscurity,  and  we  heard  the  splash  of  their  feet  in  tlie  foul  collections  of 
the  pavements. 

"  Tliis  bullseye  is  an  old  acquaintance  hei'e,"  said  the  detective,  "  and  as  its 
coming  most  always  means  'somebody  wanted,'  you  see  how  they  hide. 
Thougli  wliy  tliey  should  object  to  go  to  jail  is  more  than  I  know;  I'd  rather 
stay  in  tlie  worst  dungeon  in  town  than  here.  Come  this  way  and  I'll  show 
you  why." 

Carefully  keeping  in  the  little  track  of  light  cut  into  the  darkness  by  the 
lantern,  I  followed  the  speaker,  who  turned  into  tlie  first  door  on  the  right,  and 
I  found  myself  in  an  enti-y  about  four  feet  by  six,  with  steep,  rough,  rickety 
stairs  leading  upward  in  the  foreground,  and  their  counterparts  at  the  rear  giv- 
ing access  to  as  successful  a  manufactory  of  disease  and  death  as  any  city  on 
earth  can  show.  Coming  to  the  first  of  these  stairs,  I  was  peremptorily  halted 
by  the  foul  stenches  rising  fi'om  below ;  but  Finn,  who  had  readied  tlie  bottom, 
threw  back  the  relentless  light  upon  the  descending  way  and  urged  me  on. 
Every  step  oozed  with  moisture  and  was  covered  sole  deep  with  unmentionable 
filth ;  but  I  ventured  on,  and  reaching  my  conductor  stood  in  a  vault  some  twelve 
feet  Avide  and  two  hundred  long,  which  extended  under  tlie  whole  of  West 
Gotham  Court.  The  walls  of  rough  stone  dripped  witli  slimy  exudations, 
wliile  the  pavements  yielded  to  the  slightest  pressure  of  the  feet  a  suflbcating 
odor  compounded  of  bilge-water  and  sulphuretted  hydrogen.  Upon  one  side 
of  this  elongated  cave  of  horrors  were  ranged  a  hundi'ed  closets,  every  one  of 
which  recked  with  this  filth,  mixed  with  that  slimy  moisture  which  was  every- 
wliere  as  a  proof  that  the  waters  of  the  neighboring  East  River  penetrated, 
and  lingered  here  to  foul  instead  of  purify. 

"  What  do  you  think  of  this?  "  said  Finn,  throwing  the  liglit  of  his  lantern 
liither  and  thither  so  that  every  horror  miglit  be  dragged  fi-oni  the  darkness 
tliat  all  seemed  to  covet.  "All  the  thousands  living  in  the  barracks  must 
come  here,  and  just  think  of  all  the  young  ones  above  that  never  did  any  harm 
liaving  to  take  in  this  stufi";  "  and  the  detective  struck  out  spitefully  at  the  nox- 
ious air.  As  he  did  so,  the  gurgling  of  water  at  tlie  Cherry  street  end  of  the 
vault  caught  his  ear,  and  penetrating  thither,  he  peered  curiously  about. 

"  I  say,  Tom,"  he  called  back  to  his  companion,  who  had  remained  with  me 
in  the  darkness,  "here's  a  big  break  in  the  Croton  main."  But  a  moment 
later,  in  an  affrighted  voice:  '*  No,  it  ain't.  It's  the  sewer!  I  never  knew  of 
this  opening  into  it  before.  Paugh!  how  it  smells.  That's  nothing  up  where 
you  are.     I'll  bet  on  the  undertaker  having  more  jobs  in  the  house  than  ever." 

By  tills  time  I  began  to  feel  sick  and  faint  in  that  tainted  air,  and  would 
have  rushed  up  the  stairs  if  I  could  have  seen  them.  But  Finn  was  exjiloring 
that  sewer  liorror  with  his  lantern.  As  I  came  down  I  had  seen  a  pool  of  stag- 
nant, gi'een-coated  water  somewhere  near  the  foot  of  the  stairs,  and,  being 
afraid  to  stir  in  the  tliick  darkness,  was  forced  to  call  my  guide,  and,  frankly 


TENEMENT  LIFE.  Ill 

state  tjie  urgent  necessity  for  an  immediate  return  above.  Tlie  matter-of-flict 
2Jolicemau  came  up,  and  cast  the  liberating  liglit  upon  the  stairs,  but  rebulied 
me  as  I  eagerly  took  in  the  comiiaratively  purer  atmosphere  from  above.  "  You 
can't  stand  it  five  minutes ;  how  do  you  supjwse  they  do,  year  in  and  year  out?  " 
"  Even  they  don't  stand  it  many  years,  I  should  think,"  v/as  my  involuntary  reply. 

As  we  stepped  out  into  the  court  again,  the  glare  of  the  bullseye  dragged 
a  strange  face  out  of  the  darkness.  It  was  that  of  a  youth  of  eighteen  or 
twenty  years,  ruddy,  puffed,  with  the  corners  of  the  mouth  grotesquely  twisted. 
The  detective  greeted  the  person  owning  this  face  with  the  fervor  of  old  ac- 
quaintanceship:  "Eh,  Buster!  What's  up?"  "Hello,  Jimmy  Finn!  What 
/yez  doin'  here?  "  " Never  mind,  Buster.  What's  up?  "  "  Why,  Jimmy,  didn't 
yez  know  Hodges  here  now?"  "No,  I  didn't.  Where?  Wliowith?"  "Be- 
yant,  Avid  the  Pensioner."  "  Go  on.  Show  me  where  you  lodge."  "  Sure, 
Jimmy,  it  isn't  me  as  would  lie  to  yez." 

But  I  had  expressed  a  desire  to  penetrate  into  some  of  these  kennels  for 
crushed  humanity ;  and  Finn,  with  the  happy  acumen  of  his  tribe,  seizing  the 
first  plausible  jjretext,  was  relentless,  and  insisted  on  doubting  the  word  of  the 
Buster.  That  unfortunate  with  the  putfy  face,  who  seemed  to  know  his  man  too 
well  to  protract  resistance,  piiffed  ahead  of  us  up  the  black,  oozy  court,  with 
mp'iads  of  windows  made  ghastly  by  the  -pale  flicker  of  kerosene  lamps  in 
tiers  above  us,  until  he  came  to  the  last  door  but  one  ujion  the  left  side  of  the 
court,  over  which  the  letter  S  was  sprawled  upon  the  coping  stone.  The  bulls- 
eye  had  been  darkened,  and  when  the  Buster  plunged  through  the  doorway  he 
was  lost  to  sight  in  the  imj)enetrable  darkness  beyond.  We  heard  him  though, 
stumbling  against  stairs  that  creaked  dismally,  and  the  slide  being  drawn  back, 
the  friendly  light  made  clear  the  way  for  him  and  us.  There  was  an  entry 
precisely  like  the  one  we  had  entered  before,  with  a  flight  of  narrow,  almost 
perpendicular  stairs,  with  so  sharp  a  twist  in  them  that  we  could  see  only  half 
up.  The  banisters  in  sight  had  precisely  three  uprights,  and  looked  as  if  the 
whole  thing  would  crumble  at  a  touch ;  while  the  stairs  were  so  smooth  and 
thin  with  the  treading  of  innumerable  feet  that  they  almost  refused  a  foot- 
hold. Following  the  Buster,  who  grappled  with  the  steep  and  dangerous  as- 
cent with  the  daring  born  of  hal)it,  I  somehow  got  up  stairs,  wondering 
how  any  one  ever  got  down  in  the  dark  without  breaking  his  neck.  Thinking 
it  possible  there  might  be  a  liglit  sometimes  to  guide  the  pauper  hosts  from 
their  hazardous  heights  to  the  stability  of  the  street,  I  inquired  as  to  the  fact, 
only  to  meet  the  contempt  of  the  Buster  for  the  gross  ignorance  that  could 
dictate  such  a  question.  "  A  light  for  the  stairs!  "Wlio'd  give  it?  Sweeney? 
Not  much!  Or  the  tenants?  Skasely!  Them's  too  jjoor!"  While  he  mut- 
tered, the  Buster  had  pawed  his  way  up  stairs  with  surprising  agility,  until  he 
reached  a  door  on  the  third  landing.  Turning  triumphantly  to  the  detective, 
he  announced:  "Here's  where  I  lodges,  .Jimmy!  You  knows  I  wouldn't 
lie  to  yez." 

"  We'll  see  whether  you  would  or  no,"  said  Finn,  tapping  on  the  door.  Be- 
ing told  to  come  in,  he  opened  it ;  and  on  this  trivial  but  dexterous  pretext  we 
invaded  the  sanctity  of  a  home. 

No  tale  is  so  good  as  one  plainly  told,  and  I  tell  precisely  what  I  saw.  This 
liome  was  composed,  in  the  parlance  of  the  place,  of  a  "  room  and  bedroom." 
The  room  was  about  twelve  feet  square,  and  eight  feet  from  floor  to  ceiling. 
It  had  two  windows  opening  upon  the  court,  and  a  large  fireplace  filled  with 
a  cooking  stove.  In  the  way  of  additional  furniture,  it  had  a  common  deal  ta-, 
ble,  three  broken  wooden  chairs,  a  few  dishes  and  cooking  utensils,  and  two 


112  THE  XETIIER  SIDE  OF  XE^Y  YORK. 

•'  sliakedowns,  as  the  piles  of  stiMW  stuffed  into  bed-ticks  are  called ;  but  it 
had  nothing  wliatever  beyond  these  articles.  There  was  not  even  the  remnant 
of  a  bedstead ;  not  a  cheap  print,  so  common  in  the  hovels  of  the  poor,  to  relieve 
the  blankness  of  the  rough,  whitewashed  walls.  The  bedroom,  which  was  little 
more  than  half  the  size  of  the  other,  was  that  outrage  of  capital  upon  poverty 
known  as  a  "  dark  room,"  bj'  which  is  meant  that  it  had  no  Avindow  ojiening 
to  the  outer  air;  and  this  closet  had  no  furniture  whatever  except  two  "  shake- 
downs." 

In  the  contracted  space  of  these  two  rooms,  and  supplied  with  these  scanty 
appliances  for  comfort,  nine  human,  beings  were  stowed.  First  there  was  the 
•'  Pensioner,"  a  man  of  about  thirty-five  years,  next  his  Avife,  then  their  three  chil- 
dren, a  woman  lodger  with  two  children,  and  the  "  Buster,"  the  latter  paying 
fifteen  cents  per  night  for  liis  shelter;  but  I  did  not  learn  the  amount  paid  by 
the  woman  for  the  accommodation  of  herself  and  children.  The  Buster,  hav- 
ing been  indignant  at  my  inquiry  as  to  the  light  upon  the  stairs,  was  now  made 
merry  by  Finn  supposing  he  had  a  regular  bed  and  bedstead  for  the  money. 
"  Indade,  he  has  not,  but  a  '  shakedown  '  like  the  rest  of  us,"  said  the  woman ; 
but  the  Buster  rebuked  this  assumption  of  an  impossible  prosperity  by  promptly 
exclaiming,  "Whist!  ye  knows  I  stretch  on  the  boords  Avithout  any  shake- 
down Avhatsumdever." 

Finn  Avas  of  opinion  the  bed  was  hard  but  healthy,  and  fixing  his  eyes  on  the 
Buster's  flabby  face  thought  it  possible  he  had  any  desirable  number  of  "  square 
meals"  per  day;  but  that  individual  limited  his  acquirements  in  that  Avay  for 
the  day  then  closed  to  four.  Finn  then  touching  on  the  number  of  drinks,  the 
Buster,  being  driven  into  conjecture  and  a  corner  by  the  i»roblem,  Avas  thrust  out 
of  the  foreground  of  our  investigations. 

By  various  Avily  tricks  of  his  trade.  Detective  Finn  managed  to  get  a  deal  of 
information  out  of  the  Pensioner  Avithout  seeming  to  be  either  inquisitive  or  in- 
trusive, or  even  without  rubbing  the  coat  of  his  poverty  the  wrong  Avay .  From 
this  source  I  learned  that  five  dollars  per  month  AA'as  paid  as  I'ent  for  these 
tAVO  third-floor  rooms,  and  that  everybotly  concerned  deemed  them  dirt  cheap 
at  the  i^rice.  Light" Avas  obtained  from  kerosene  lamjjs  at  the  expense  of  the 
tenant,  and  Avater  had  to  be  carried  from  the  court  beloAV,  Avhile  all  refuse 
matter  not  emi:)tied  into  the  court  itself  had  to  be  taken  to  the  foul  A'aults  be- 
neath it.  The  rooms,  having  all  these  draAvbacks  and  being  destitute  of  the 
commonest  appliances  for  comfort  or  decency,  did  not  appear  to  be  in  the 
highest  degree  eligible ;  yet  the  Pensioner  considered  himself  fortunate  in  hav- 
ing secured  them.  His  experience  in  living  must  have  been  verj^  doleful,  for  he 
declared  that  he  had  seen  Avorse  places.  In  itself,  and  so  far  as  the  landlord 
was  concerned,  I  doubted  him ;  but  I  had  myself  seen  fouler  places  than  these 
tAVO  rooms,  which  had  been  made  so  by  the  tenants.  All  that  cleanliness  could 
do  to  make  the  kennel  of  the  Pensioner  habitable  had  been  done,  and  I  looked 
with  more  respect  upon  the  uncouth  Avoman  Avho  had  scoured  the  rough  floor 
white,  than  I  ever  had  upon  a  gaudily  attired  dame  SAveeping  Broadway  Avith 
her  silken  trail.  The  thrift  that  had  so  little  for  its  nourishment  had  not  been 
expended  wholly  upon  the  floor,  for  I  noticed  tliat  the  two  children  asleep  on 
the  shakedown  Avere  clean,  Avhile  the  little  felloAV  fom*  years  of  age,  Avho  Avas 
ajiparently  jirepared  for  bed  as  he  Avas  entirely  naked,  but  sat  as  yet  upon  one 
of  the  three  chairs,  had  no  sjieck  of  dirt  upon  his  fair  white  skin.  A  painter 
should  have  seen  him  as  he  gazed  Avonderingly  upon  us,  and  my  resi)ect  deep- 
ened for  the  Avoman  Avho  could,  s])ite  tlie  hard  lines  of  her  rugged  life,  bring 
forth  and  preserve  so  much  of  childish  symmetry  and  beauty. 


TENEMENT  LIFE.  113 

Having  absorbed  these  general  facts,  I  turned  to  the  master  of  this  house- 
hold. He  was  a  man  of  small  stature  but  rugged  frame,  and  his  left  shirt 
sleeve  dangled  empty  at  his  side.  That  adi'oit  Finn,  noticing  my  inquiring  look, 
blurted  out:  "That  arm  went  in  a  street  accident,  I  suppose?  " 

"  No,  sir ;  it  wint  at  the  battle  of  Spottsylvania."      ' 

Here  was  a  hero!  The  narrow  limits  of  his  humble  home  expanded  to  em- 
brace the  brown  and  kneaded  Virginian  glades,  as  I  saw  them  just  seven  years 
ago,  pictured  with  the  lurid  pageantry  of  that  stubborn  fight  when  Sedgwick 
fell.  This  man,  crammed  with  his  family  into  twelve  feet  square  at  the  top  of 
Sweeney's  Shambles,  was  once  part  of  that  glorious  scene.  In  answer  to  my 
test  questions  he  said  he  belonged  to  the  Thirty-ninth  New  York,  which  was 
attaclied  to  the  Second  Corps,  and  that  he  received  a  pension  of  $15  per  month 
from  the  grateful  country  he  had  served  as  payment  in  full  for  an  arm.  It  was 
enough  to  keep  body  and  soul  together,  and  he  could  not  complain.  Nor  could 
I ;  but  I  could  and  did  signify  to  my  guide  by  a  nod  that  I  had  seen  and  heard 
enough,  and  we  went  down  again  into  the  slimy,  reeking  court. 

Looking  upward,  I  saw  the  vast  tenement  house,  which  contained  two  hun- 
dred such  suites  of  apartments  as  the  one  I  had  just  left,  rising  five  stories  above 
the  narrow  court,  and  I  tried  to  imagine  the  vast  total  of  human  misery  it  em- 
braced. The  reflective  official  at  my  side  guessed  my  thoughts,  for  he  assured 
me  that,  coming  as  I  had  on  a  pleasant  night  of  the  early  summer,  I  had  seen 
the  place  at  its  best.  In  August,  when  these  two  hundred  homes  had  been 
blistered  for  two  months,  the  odors  would  be  unendurable  by  a  stranger ;  and 
although  the  atmosphere  Avould  be  purer  in  winter,  the  place  was  then  made  as 
ghastly  in  a  difterent  way  by  the  sight  of  these  thousands  of  human  beings  suf- 
fering for  w\ant  of  fuel  and  clothing.  For  I  knew,  without  being  told,  that  only 
the  wi'etchedly  poor  would  harbor  in  these  holes.  In  many  of  the  rooms  were 
widows  struggling  to  maintain  children  by  their  scanty  earnings  as  char- 
women. Where  there  was  a  male  head  to  the  family,  he  was  usually  either 
physically  disabled  by  sickness  or  injury,  as  in  the  case  of  the  Pensioner,  or  was 
one  of  the  wretched  army  of  unskilled  labor.  There  were  however  among  the 
tenants  some  craftsmen,  such  as  ijrinters,  carpenters,  and  in  fact  representa- 
tives of  all  trades,  who  had  lost  their  cunning  through  the  bottle ;  and  knowing 
this  fact,  "  Sweeney's  Shambles  "  loomed  into  the  misty  night  an  irrefutable 
temperance  argument.  But  whatever  the  fellings  of  these  wi'etched  people,  or 
whatever  the  reason  of  their  poverty,  there  could  not  be  any  excuse  for  the 
barbarity  which  crams  one  hundred  families  into  one  building  having  a  front 
of  fifty  feet,  a  depth  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  feet,  and  five  floors,  when  that 
building  is  "  Sweeney's  Shambles,"  devoid  of  every  appliance  for  health,  pri- 
vacy, or  decency,  and  with  those  terrible  vaults  under  the  two  com'ts  upon 
which  the  east  and  west  sides  of  the  edifice  open. 

Picking  our  way  by  the  lantern  light  through  such  kitchen  refuse  as  rem- 
nants of  fish  and  vegetables,  mixed  with  more  offensive  ofial,  with  which  the 
court  was  covered,  we  slowly  made  our  way  to  Cheriy  street  again.  Passing 
alorig  I  glanced  through  a  score  of  first-floor  windows,  and  saw  in  every  room  the 
same  evidences  of  poverty  and  overcrowding.  Every  apartment  was  a  "  liv- 
ing-room "  choked  with  adults  and  children,  with  such  articles  of  furniture  as  I 
had  seen  in  the  Pensioner's  room,  and,  worse  than  all,  with  foul  odors  evolved 
from  the  room  itself  and  the  vaults  beneath.  It  was  plain  there  could  be  no 
cleanliness,  no  privacy,  no  chance  for  decency,  no  godliness  among  these  hun- 
di-eds  of  people;  and  I  had  the  chief  moral  and  sanitary  problem  of  the  great 
city  thrust  thus  forcibly  upon  me  as  I  made  my  way  through  the  court,  which 


114 


THE  NETHER  SIDE  OF  NEW  YORK. 


is  the  common  thoroughfare  of  all  these  hundreds,  but  which  the  landlord  doea 
not  lio'lit  and  wliich  nobody  cleans. 

It  was  a  relief  to  get  out  of  Gotham  Court  into  the  fetid  atmosjihcre  of 
Cherry  street,  and  we  passed  hurriedly  up  the  court  on  the  other  side  of  the 
building,  for  the  odors  were  coming  ui)  through  the  gi'ating  from  the  vault  be- 
neath like  steam ;  and  I  was  glad  when,  at  the  upper  end  of  the  court,  we 
passed  into  Roosevelt  street  by  a  narrow  entrance. 

I  had  started  out  to  see  the  worst  human  habitation  in  New  York,  and  was 
convinced  that  my  object  had  been  fully  accomplished.  I  knew  that  the  law 
classes  all  domiciles  containing  three  or  more  families  as  tenement  houses,  and 
that  there  are  in  the  city  of  New  York  20,000  such  houses,  in  which  160,000 
families  and  more  than  a  half  million  of  persons  are  packed.  I  knew  of  the 
cramming  and  foulness  of  the  barracks  Nos.  7  and  9  Mulberiy  street,  where  a 
stray  spark  from  somebody's  pipe  will  some  night  breed  a  conflagi'ation  which 
will  destroy  scores  of  the  wretched  inmates.  I  knew  of  those  vast  houses  of 
the  better  sort  in  the  German  portions  of  the  city,  which  are  furnished  with 
gas,  have  tolerable  ventilation,  and  water  as  high  as  it  can  be  forced,  but 
wliich  have  narrow  halls  and  steep  stairs,  to  make  them  in  moments  of  alarm 
jjerfected  machines  for  the  killing  or  maiming  of  a  large  per  cent,  of  the  hun- 
dreds who  inhabit  each  of  them ;  in  short,  I  had  a  general  idea  of  the  high 
state  of  perfection  to  which  the  art  of  crowding  the  largest  possible  number  of 
people  into  the  smallest  possible  spac*  had  been  brought  in  this  Christian  city, 
but  I  had  not  imagined  the  possibility  of  such  things  as  the  kennels  for  human- 
ity which  overhang  Gotham  Court. 

The  glimpse  I  have  given  of  one  of  the  20,000  tenement  houses  affords  a 
view  in  detail  of  the  chief  evil  of  the  metropolis,  but  a  proper  sense  of  the  over- 
crowding with  which  New  York  is  afflicted  can  perhaps  be  better  obtained  from 
some  general  facts.  London  has  had  some  centuries  of  experience  in  jxicking 
away  the  poor,  but  that  New  York,  after  scarcely  a  generation  of  ti'ial,  has  sur- 
passed her,  can  be  seen  by  the  following  compai*ative  statement  of  the  popula- 
tion of  the  more  densely  peopled  quarters  of  each  city : 


New  Yohk. 

London. 

oi 

s 

1^ 

o 

b 

DUtricU. 

"5- 

3 

o 

DUtricts. 

"S" 

a 

3 

o 

o 

<3 

^ 

5" 

o 

'< 

a. 

« 

fe; 

ft, 

Oi 

Fourth  Ward 

88 

17,353 

209 

WTiitechapel 

38:} 

78,970 

206 

Sixth  Ward 

86 

19,754 

230 

St.  Giles 

245 

54,076 

221 

Seventh  Ward 

no 

36,962 

1S7 

St.  James  West  .... 

164 

35,326 

215 

Tenth  Ward 

198 

31,537 

287 

East  London 

153 

40,687 

266 

Eleventh  Ward 

196 

38,9.-)3 

301 

Strand 

140 

42,979 

307 

Thirteenth  Ward  .... 

107 

26,388 

2-17 

St.  Luke's 

220 

57,073 

2.59 

Fourteenth  Ward .... 

96 

23,382 

244 

Holbom 

196 

44,862 

229 

Seventeenth  Ward  .  .  . 

331 

79,563 

241 

West  London 

126 

27,145 

215 

Totals  and  averages  . 

1,207 

293,891 

243 

Totals  and  averages  . 

1,627 

381,118 

234 

This  carefully  prepared  statement,  which  appeared  in  the  report  of  the  Board 
of  Health  for  1869,  was  based  upon  the  census  of  1865,  so  that  now  the  comparison 
must  ])e  much  more  unfavorable  to  us,  as  the  population  of  the  city  has  increased 
in  an  undue  ratio  in  these  densely  peopled  wards.  But  while  this  exhibit  gives 
a  general  view  of  a  gigantic  evil,  it  affords  no  adequate  idea  of  the  excejitional 
exaggerations  by  which  some  jioi'tions  of  these  wards  become  ulcers  upon  the 
body  politic.     There  are  many  blocks  where  the  population  exceeds  one  thou- 


TENEMENT  LIFE.  115 

sand  to  the  acre,  and  localities  where  the  living  have  but  little  more  of  the 
earth's  surface  than  the  minimum  allotted  to  the  dead.  It  is  not  strange  then 
that  the  tenements  become  nurseries  of  social  degi-adation,  and  only  escape  be- 
ing intolei'able  pests  by  causing  a  mortality  of  seven  per  cent,  per  annum  of 
the  inmates,  as  the  average  of  all  the  houses,  while  in  such  dens  as  35  Baxter 
street,  wliere  fifty  beggars  and  prostitutes  are  stowed  in  indescribable  filth,  the 
mortality  reaches  seventeen  per  cent. 

It  has  been  truly  said  that  the  home  is  the  last  analysis  of  the  state,  and  it 
is  not  strange  tliat  the  civic  virtues  decay  in  a  community  where  one-half  the 
people  have  no  home  in  the  true  meaning  of  the  word.  The  profligacy  of  New 
York,  after  allowance  lias  been  made  for  the  gi'oss  exaggerations  due  to  ignorance 
and  partisan  rancor,  is  considerable  and  shameful ;  but  resting  as  the  city  does 
ujjon  this  tenement  system,  it  is  wonderful  that  it  retains  so  much  of  physical 
and  moral  vitality.  Family  privacy,  which  is  the  foundation  of  public  morality 
and  intelligence,  is  within  the  reach  of  but  a  small  fraction  of  the  population. 
It  requires  at  least  $5,000  per  annum  for  a  man  with  even  a  small  family  to 
live  in  the  metropolis  with  the  domesticity  necessary  to  the  successful  propaga- 
tion of  the  home  virtues ;  and  as  very  fe^Y  possess  an  income  of  that  amount,  the 
strictly  pi'ivate  houses  in  the  city  are  jDroportionately  scai'ce.  Thousands 
escape  the  horrors  of  the  tenements  by  subletting  portions  of  their  houses 
either  to  a  family  or  in  furnished  rooms,  and  in  either  case  only  succeed  in 
mitigating  an  evil  that  every  year  presses  more  sorely  upon  the  city.  But 
these  semi-private  families  feel  only  the  distant  glow  of  the  flame  that  is  con- 
suming the  moral  stamina  of  the  tenement  population.  It  is  not  necessary  to 
face  the  horrors  of  Sweeney's  Shambles  and  see  the  Pensioner  with  his  wife  and 
three  children,  his  female  lodger  and  her  two  children,  supi^lemented  by  the 
Buster,  enveloped  in  the  foul  odors  of  the  vault,  and  stowed  away  in  a  s^mce 
barely  suflicient  for  the  healthful  and  decent  accommodation  of  at  most  two 
human  beings,  in  order  to  fully  realize  the  individiaal  suffering  and  public  jDcril 
which  these  tenements  jDroduce.  A  stroll  at  random  through  any  portions  of 
the  Tenth,  Eleventh,  or  Seventeenth  Wards  "vvill  force  it  upon  the  most  careless 
of  observers. 

A  walk  during  any  hot  evening  of  summer  through  Avenue  A,  or  any  of  the 
streets  crossing  it  at  right  angles  below  Fourteenth  street,  will  be  suflicient  to 
convince  the  most  skeptical  that  I  have  adliered  literally  to  fact.  Almost  every 
house  in  these  streets  will  be  found  to  be  a  tenement  five  or  six  stories  high, 
with  two  or  more  human  beings  gasi^ing  for  air  at  each  one  of  the  numerous  win- 
•  dows,  while  foot  room  can  scarcely  be  found  on  the  sidewalks  or  roadway  because 
of  the  multitude  of  children  incumbering  them.  It  is  only  by  entering  these 
houses  that  it  can  be  seen  how  it  is  possible  for  them  to  slielter  so  many  thou- 
sands ;  and  in  examining  them  it  must  be  remembered  they  are  nearly  all  tene- 
ments of  the  better  class,  provided  with  all  the  appliances  for  health  required 
by  the  tenement-house  law.  Each  family  will  be  found  to  have  the  inevitable 
"living-room"  and  "bedroom,"  and  the  improvement  in  the  latter  consists  in 
its  having  a  small  -window  near  the  ceiling  opening  into  the  narrow  hall,  wliich 
in  its  turn  has  a  window  at  each  end  opening  to  the  outer  air.  But  at  the  rear 
this  hall  window  is  of  small  service,  as  it  looks  out  upon  another  tenement 
twenty-five  feet  distant  which  is  built  upon  the  rear  of  the  lot ;  and  in  this  fact  the 
observer  has  the  key  to  the  mystery  of  housing  the  thousands  he  sees  at  the 
windows  of  the  front  houses,  and  the  other  thousands  he  sees  in  tlie  streets. 
Upon  each  lot  of  one  hundred  feet  in  dejDth  two  distinct  edifices  are  erected, 


116  THE  NETHER  SIDE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Avith  tlie  space  of  twenty-five  feet  left  between  only  because  it  is  imper- 
atively demanded  by  the  law ;  and  knowing  this  fact,  the  secret  of  tlie  density 
of  population  in  these  wards  is  learned.  It  is  not  the  least  painful  of  the  facts 
discovered  in  these  quarters,  that  almost  without  exception  the  tens  of  thou- 
sands of  inmates  of  these  houses  thus  subjected  to  physical  discomfort  and 
moral  jeojiardy  belong  to  the  industrial  classes.  The  great  metropolis,  with  its 
vast  enterprise,  its  restless  ingenuity,  and  its  imperial  revenues,  can  furnish  its 
skilled  labor,  upon  Avhich  its  prosperity  so  largely  depends,  with  no  better  homes 
than  these.  Its  mechanics  of  everj^  grade  and  trade,  who  elsewhere  would  find 
tlieir  wages  amply  suflicient  for  the  reputable  maintenance  of  their  families,  and 
enough  to  place  them  in  the  second  class  of  the  poi^ulation,  wliich  is  the  bul- 
wark of  the  State,  are  here  compelled  by  the  enormous  rents  and  the  high 
charges  for  all  the  necessaries  of  life  to  live  in  these  tenements,  where  they  be- 
come negligent  as  citizens,  and  their  children,  owing  to  the  influences  which 
surround  them,  growing  dangers  to  the  commonwealth.  In  a  sanitary  sense  the 
tenements  are  a  perplexity  and  a  vexation ;  but  it  is  in  their  moral  and  social 
aspects  that  they  are  perilous.  There  are  hundreds  of  these  immense  barracks 
in  which  from  fifteen  to  fifty  fixmilies  live  under  one  roof,  using  halls,  stair- 
ways, closets,  and  all  the  conveniences  for  the  privacy  of  life  in  common.  In 
every  one  of  these  families  there  are  females  of  course,  and  there  are  very  few 
in  which  there  are  not  several  chikken.  No  truth  is  more  universally  recog- 
nized than  that  barrack  life  is  demoralizing  even  in  the  army;  and  remember- 
ing this  fact,  some  idea  of  its  destructive  influences  when  it  is  inflicted  upon  a 
half  million  of  men,  women,  and  children  can  be  formed.  With  half  its  popu- 
lation camped  in  its  heart,  the  city  has  a  disheartening  future  to  the  reflective 
publicist  who  traces  efiects  to  the  first  cause.  The  first  generation  of  tenement 
life  has  destroyed  in  a  gi'eat  measure  the  safeguards  which  a  genuine  home 
erects  around  a  people,  and  it  is  inevitable  that  in  the  second  or  third  genera- 
tion it  must  brutalize  its  victims,  and  leave  vice  and  ignorance  as  the  founda- 
tion stones  of  the  municipality. 

But  while  the  tenements  suggest  politically  these  gi'ave  apprehensions  for 
the  future,  to  the  sanitarian  they  are  a  present  peril.  Since  tlie  enforcement 
of  the  jn-esent  admirable  law  regulating  their  construction  and  occupancj',  they 
have  be<m  so  greatly  improved  that  tliey  are  far  less  of  a  menace  than  before 
to  the  public  health,  but  they  are  yet  nurseries  of  disease  and  death.  Dr.  Elisha 
Harris,  the  late  eftective  Sanitary  Superintendent  of  the  city,  with  the  assist- 
ance of  his  learned  and  careful  chief  clerk  Mr.  Norris  R.  Norton,  who  is  now 
deceased,  did  this  community  an  incalculable  service  by  making  tenement- 
house  mortiility  a  special  study  and  the  subject  of  full  and  exact  statistical  com- 
pilation. The  last  report  published  by  these  gentlemen  shows  a  total  mortality 
in  the  city  during  the  year  of  25,167.  Of  this  army  of  the  dead  4,005  had  been 
recruited  from  the  public  institutions,  7,817  from  private  houses,  hotels,  or 
boarding-houses,  and  13,285  from  the  tenement  houses.  Iia  the  first  class  the 
percentiige  of  the  whole  mortality  was  16.15,  in  the  second  31.06,  while  the 
deadly  tenements  yielded  a  per  cent,  of  52.79,  or  more  than  half  the  mortality  of 
the  year  when  we  consider  only  the  deaths  actually  occurring  in  them.  But 
the  tenements  are  the  reservoirs  from  which  the  public  hosi)itals  are  fed,  and 
charging  the  mortality  of  the  latt«r  to  the  former,  wlun'c  it  rightfully  belongs, 
these  dens  of  death  produced  68.94  jier  centum  of  the  whole  mortality  of  the 
year.  The  forced  community  of  families,  Avhich  is  the  great  social  and  sani- 
taiy  evil  of  the  city,  can  have  no  more  startling  commentary  than  this  brief 


TENEMENT  LIFE.  117 

statement  of  general  facts ;  but  some  details  of  these  nests  where  only  moral 
and  physical  death  is  hatched  will  be  both  interesting  and  valuable. 

These  human  hives  are  the  natural  nurses  of  epidemics.  Smallpox,  malig- 
nant fevers,  and  all  contagious  diseases  revel  in  them.  There  is  hardly  a  day 
throughout  the  entire  year'T/hen  some  one  of  these  dreaded  foes  of  human  life 
is  not  present  in  these  choked  centres  of  population,  to  occasion  public  alarm 
and  tax  the  skill  of  the  health  authorities  to  keep  it  within  bounds.  During 
the  past  two  years  the  viler  of  the  dens,  and  especially  the  cellar  lodging- 
houses,  have  propagated  a  new  pest  in  the  relapsing  fever — that  sorrowfully 
suggestive  disease  of  privation  which  slays  comparatively  few,  but  destroys  the 
physical  vigor  of  thousands,  and  thereby  has  become  the  most  efficient  recruit- 
ing officer  pauperism  has  ever  had.  Dr.  Harris  says  in  one  of  his  invaluable 
reports  that  "the  inevitable  and  the  prevent:ible  among  the  causes  of  mortality 
become  strangely  blended  and  combined  in  the  unventilated  and  unscavenged 
houses  of  the  overcrowded  poor.  Consumption  and  all  the  inflammatory  dis- 
eases of  the  lungs  vie  with  the  infectious  and  other  zymotic  disorders,  in  wast- 
ing the  health  and  destroying  the  life  of  the  tenement  population."  It  is  not 
singular,  therefore,  that  the  tenement  mortality  has  occasioned  the  gi'avest  alarm, 
for  these  perpetual  fever  nests  not  only  infect  special  localities  but  also  the 
whole  city,  and  render  the  death  rate  of  the  metropolis  excessive.  It  could  not 
be  otherwise  when  a  single  house  in  Sheriff  street,  having  fifty-eight  pei'sons, 
had  four  deaths  in  nine  months,  thus  giving  a  death  rate  of  84  in  1,000.  The 
same  gi'ave  facts  are  almost  as  forcibly  illustrated  in  the  block  bounded  by 
Madison,  Grand,  Corlears,  Monroe,  and  Jackson  streets.  In  this  area,  where 
the  population  is  so  excessive  as  to  give  but  9.15  square  yards  to  each  inhabi- 
tant, there  are  eighteen  tenements  containing  153  families,  which  gave  25 
deaths  in  nine  months.  One  house  with  a  population  of  36  had  4,  three  others 
with  a  population  of  110  had  a  mortality  of  6  in  the  same  period,  and  the  case 
was  no  better  in  the  other.  Nor  was  this  block  the  most  serious  in  its  sugges- 
tions, for  I  have  been  careful  to  select  from  a  large  mass  of  statistics  facts 
which  would  present  a  fair  average  of  the  deaths  in  these  overcrowded  dens. 

The  humanitai'ian  might  almost  refuse  to  regret  that  these  tenements  con- 
stitute the  modern  Herod,  for  the  children  who  grow  up  in  them  are  inevitably 
doomed  to  a  life  of  infamy  or  sufl'ering.  Breeders  of  contentions,  brawls,  do- 
mestic murders,  these  houses  subject  cliildren  from  earliest  infancy  to  incidents 
which  must  bestialize  them.  Aside  from  the  intermingling  of  families  so  that 
there  can  be  no  such  thing  as  home  privacy,  these  houses  are  frequently  the 
scene  of  brutal  murder.  Almost  without  excejDtion  the  domestic  murders  oc- 
cur in  them,  and  as  these  homicides  are  invariably  the  results  of  drunken  quar- 
rels, the  details  of  the  crime  are  always  sickening  to  the  reader,  and  must  have 
been  terribly  demoralizing  to  the  inmates  of  the  house  who,  as  is  sometimes 
the  case,  stand  idly  by  and  see  the  butchery  done.  Intoxication  is  responsible 
for  another  horror  of  these  houses.  It  was  but  yesterday  that  one  of  them  was 
discovered  in  a  Mulberry  street  tenement.  A  woman  occupying  a  squalid 
room  not  having  been  seen  for  some  hours,  another  woman  living  on  the  same 
floor  went  to  the  room  and  found  her  lying  dead  upon  her  "  shakedo\^'Tl,"  with 
her  three  children  plajnng  innocently  about  her.  Such  incidents  are  constantly 
occurring,  and  I  have  seen  more  of  them  than  I  care  to  experience  again  by 
narrating  them. 

As  briefly  as  the  disagreeable  task  could  be  performed,  I  have  endeavored 
to  present  the  tenements  of  the  metropolis  in  such  matters  of  detail  and  gener 


118  "DIED  YESTERDAY!" 

alization  that  their  present  and  probable  future  effect  upon  the  community 
which  tolerates  them  can  be  fairly  estimated.  There  is  nothing  in  the  criminal 
stiitistics  of  the  city  so  alarming  as  this  overcrowding  of  the  population  ia 
houses  unfit  to  be  the  kennels  of  dogs ;  and  the  Nether  side  of  New  Yoric  has 
nothing  more  distressful  than  these  huge  contrivances  for  the  production  of 
moral  and  physical  death.  Take  a  common  case.  An  artisan  in  middle  life 
has  growing  sons  and  daughters  around  him.  The  mother  has  gone  to  her 
rest,  and  he,  being  a  man  of  strong  will,  struggles  witli  some  success  to  pre- 
serve his  childi'cn  from  the  demoralizing  influences  of  the  den  in  wliich  he  is 
forced  to  shelter  them.     Suddenly, 

Of  all  the  fevers  that  infest 
His  temporary  fever  nest. 
He  takes  a  deadly  one.    The  rest 
Is  easily  coiyectured.  * 

•  Some  ■weeks  after  this  article  was  written,  the  Bonnl  oi  Ilealth  peremptorily  closed  f?weeny'8 
Shambles  as  a  place  of  human  habitation  ami  compelled  the  ownei-  to  entirely  renovate  it,  so  that 
it  is  now  no  longer  as  I  saw  it;  but  it  is  a  type  of  so  many  liennels  for  the  poor  in  New  York 
that  I  have  chosen  to  -let  the  description  remain.  If  the  reader  is  curious  in  suc!i  matters,  the 
police  in  any  of  the  lower  precincts  can  show  him  something  distressingly  like  the  den  of  death  ia 
Gotham  Court.  I  may  add  that  the  den  in  Mulberry  street  did  take  firj  at  last,  but  the  accideut 
occurring  at  midday  instead  of  midnight,  only  one  person— a  woman— was  buined  to  death. 


OUTCAST  CHILDREN. 


TEN  thousand  human  beings  nnder  tlie  age  of  fourteen  years  are  adrift  m 
the  sti'eets  of  New  York.  Four-fifths  of  them  are  confirmed  vagi-ants,  and 
the  majority  are  growing  up  in  ignorance  of  everything  but  the  dej)ravity 
which  is  gleaned  fi'om  the  city  shims,  and  all  of  them  are  being  pushed  by  the 
relentless  force  of  untoward  circumstances  into  the  criminal  practices  in  which 
many  ]>ave  become  adepts  in  the  dawn  of  their  blighted  lives.  Tlie  major  por- 
tion are  boys  rapidly  preparing  for  the  almshouses,  prisons,  and  gallows ;  but 
hundreds  are  girls,  who  have  before  them  the  dai'ker  horror  of  prostitution  as 
well  as  those  appliances  of  civilization  for  the  care  or  repression  of  tlie  pauper- 
ism and  lawlessness  which  it  creates.  It  is  this  juvenile  army  of  vagabond- 
age and  crime  hanging  upon  tlie  flanks  of  society,  and  occasionally  startling  it 
from  its  propriety  by  manifestations  of  an  immeasurable  capacity  for  mischief, 
which  is  a  prominent  peril  and  the  most  sorrowful  of  the  nether  aspects  of  the  city. 

'♦  Foxes  have  holes  and  birds  of  the  air  have  nests ;  but  the  Son  of  Man  hath 
not  where  to  lay  his  head,"  is  the  most  woful  declaration  of  friendless  home- 
lessness  ever  uttered  on  earth.  To-day  in  the  Western  metropolis  ten  thousand 
defaced  images  of  the  Creator  are  as  friendless,  as  homeless,  as  abandoned  to 
the  Avrath  of  man.  However  hardened  he  may  have  become,  no  one  can  en- 
counter this  phase  of  metroi^olitan  life  without  a  fervent  hope  that  the  experi- 
ence may  not  be  repeated.  Policemen  who,  it  might  be  supi^osed,  are  indurated 
to  callousness  by  long  atti'ition  with  human  suffering  and  degi-adation,  are  fre- 
quently unmanned  by  casual  meetings  with  little  castaways  wailing  in  the 
agony  of  hunger  or  homelessness,  or  in  the  anguish  of  detected  crime ;  and  the 
mere  amateur  in  such  scenes  cannot  be  blamed  if  he  avoids  rather  than  seeks 
them.  For  the  reason  that  the  facts  are  so  repulsive,  they  have  been  collated 
with  extreme  difficulty,  and  no  task  which  I  have  undertaken  has  been  more 
onerous  than  that  of  presenting  the  juvenile  wi'etchedness  of  the  city  in  trust- 
worthy and  intelligible  shape. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  undertaking  I  discovered  that  notwithstanding  the 
many  earnest  agencies  at  work  among  these  outcasts  to  ameliorate  their  condi- 
tion, very  few  precise  facts  concerning  them  were  known.  The  intelligent  and 
sympathetic  agents  of  the  Children's  Aid  Society,  the  Howard  Mission,  the 
Catholic  Protectory,  and  other  organized  charities,  were  constantly  among 
tliam ;  yet  no  one  of  them  could  give  any  exact  data  as  to  the  number,  haunts, 
or  habits  of  the  outcast  children  of  New  York,  nor  did  the  reports  of  any  of 
these  institutions  contain  such  information  in  manageable  shape.  The  moral 
and  physical  destitution  of  these  child-vagi'ants,  and  the  causes  which  produced 
them,  are  the  topics  chiefly  discussed  by  these  societies;  but  the  statements  of 
facts  are  almost  entirely  confined  to  the  means  of  reclamation  which  they  so 
constantly  and  unselfishly  exert.  But  by  combining  information  obtained  from 
widely  differing  sources  with  personal  observations,  I  have  avoided  conjecture, 
although  it  is  of  course  impossible  to  give  exact  statistics  where  none  ever  have 
been  or  can  be  collated.  The  only  positive  statement  I  have  seen  is  that  "  the 
vagi-ant  and  neglected  children  of  the  city,  if  placed  in  double  file  three  feet 
apart,  would  make  a  procession  eight  miles  long."  In  this  estimate*are  in- 
eluded  the  neglected  children  as  well  as  the  true  nomads  of  the  streets,  and  it 
is  under  rather  tlian  above  the  ti'uth. 


120  TUE  KETHER  SIDE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

In  this  army  of  sorrow  there  are  gi-adations  in  ruiseiy,  but  only  few  re- 
sources for  its  alleviation.  The  child  who  is  naked  has  the  odds"  against  him 
•  who  is  both  liungry  and  naked,  but  neither  has  the  advantage  of  tlie  other  in 
means  for  the  relief  of  either  the  one  or  the  other.  Tlie  first  and  most  natural 
recourse  of  the  outcast  who  has  just  passed  from  a  neglected  babyhood  into  a 
vagrant  childhood,  is  beggaiy.  It  is  these  forlorn  creatures  whose  naked  feet 
smear  tlie  gutter  ice  with  Ijlood,  whose  hands  eagerly  search  the  garbage  bar- 
rels for  morsels  of  refuse  food  which  the  homeless  dogs  will  not  touch,  but  i 
which  they  devour ;  it  is  they  whose  eyes  have  the  frightful  glare  only  priva- 
tion can  give,  and  whose  voices  are  often  so  Aveakened  by  want  that  tliey  can- 
not audibly  articulate  their  needs  at  area  doors ;  it  is  they  who  are  found  at 
night  under  stoops,  in  wagons,  in  lumber  yards,  or  timidly  asldng  for  lodging 
at  the  police  stations.  I  am  fully  aware  that  all  this  means  tliat  there  are 
homeless  children  who  are  actually  starving  in  the  streets  of  New  Yoi'k,  and  I 
am  also  conscious  that  I  have  not  exaggerated  nor  set  down  aught  in  malice. 
There  are  such  children,  and  hundreds  of  them.  Despite  the  constant  and  sys- 
tematic eftbrts  made  by  organized  charities,  tliere  are  constantly  in  the  streets 
fifteen  hundred  fragile  boys  and  girls  under  the  age  of  ten  years,  who  have  no 
conception  of  the  meaning  of  the  word  home,  and  who  are  dying  by  inches  for 
the  want  of  sufficient  nutriment.  These  are  grave  statements,  but  tliose  noble 
laborers  of  every  Christian  creed,  who  are  working  with  such  unweaiying  and 
unselfish  zeal  to  rescue  the  human  drift  annually  cast  up  in  increasing  quanti- 
ties, know  that  they  are  rather  below  than  above  tlie  truth. 

But  these  hapless  waifs  that,  living  or  dead,  are  rebukes  of  civilization,  do 
not  constitute  all  of  the  infantile  street  beggars.  There  are  half  as  many  moi'e 
who  are  less  than  they  pretend  to  be,  but  still  having  a  i>erfect  right  to  be 
classed  as  outcast  children.  They,  in  common  with  other  classes  to  be  noted, 
are  the  victims  of  debauched  and  brutal  parentage.  Born  of  misery,  nm'tm'ed 
by  penury,  cradled  in  the  filth  and  degradation  of  such  tenements  as  that  I 
have  described  at  Gotliam  Court,  having  blasphemy  and  drunkeimess  as  con- 
stant companions,  there  is  nothing  on  earth  more  pitiful  or  more  painfully 
suggestive  of  social  ulceration  than  the  child-vagi'ants  of  New  York. 

Crowding  all  the  narrow  streets  and  courts  of  the  lower  iwrtion  of  the  city, 
swarming  about  the  markets  and  piers,  haggard,  filthy,  the  foul  blasphemy  of 
experienced  depravity  constantly  on  their  lips,  they  at  once  declare  theix  ap- 
palling numbers  and  tlieir  unutterable  degradation.  They  are  the  enfants  ter- 
rible of  civilization,  and  many  of  those  now  specially  considered  are  forced  to 
add  hypocrisy  to  their  vices.  They  are  the  children  of  parents  wlio,  sunken 
by  liquor  below  the  Ijeasts  of  the  fields,  sti'ip  their  iirogeny  of  nciu-ly  all  their 
scanty  clothing  and  drive  them  forth  from  the  kennels  wliicli  are  their  homes, 
to  beg  for  them  the  means  of  further  indulgence.  It  is  tliis  class  whipli  infests 
the  doors  of  theatres,  concei't-saloons,  and  other  places  of  public  resort,  and 
which  is  found  in  tlie  streets  at  the  latest  hours  of  the  night  and  is  most  impor- 
tunate in  demanding  charity.  One  special  case  which  happened  to  come  under 
my  personal  observation  will  perliaps  fully  illustrate  tins  class.  A  lx)y  was 
dragged  into  a  police  station  for  tlie  heinous  offence  of  begging  at  the  doors  of 
Wallack's  Theatre.  It  appeared  that  with  two  brothers  younger  than  himself 
— and  he  was  only  twelve  years  of  age — he  was  driven  out  by  his  drunken 
mothef  every  night  to  beg,  and  tliatshe  compelled  tliem,  before  beginning  their 
task,  tfl  remove  their  shoes  under  tlie  stoop  of  a  house  near  by.  Not  only  were 
tlicy  thus  exposed  to  the  l)itter  cold  of  an  extreme  winter,  but  the  beastly 
mother  hovered  near  to  urge  them  to  increased  importunity  by  significant  ges- 


OUTCAST  ClIILDREX.  i21 

tures,  and  regularly  rewarded  them  "with  brutal  beatings  if  their  gains  vvero 
not  commensurate  with  her  desires.  It  was  ascertained  that  this  was  the  prac- 
tice of  a  large  number  of  bestial  parents  colonized  upon  the  east  side  of  tlie 
city,  whose  cliildren  escaped  from  them  when  they  could  to  become  veritable 
vagi'ants  and  beggars  upon  their  own  account.  There  are  otliers  of  these  child 
♦beggars  who  are  still  less  entitled  to  sympathy,  for  their  homes  are  abodes  of 
comparative  comfort  and  they  readily  obey  their  parents — who  themselves  are 
beggars — and  sturdily  demand  tlie  charity  to  wliich  they  are  not  rightfully  en- 
titled. But  the  phases  of  street  beggary  are  as  manifold  as  the  shapes  taken  by 
human  depravity  stimulated  by  gi'eed,  and  I  cannot  pretend  to  do  more  than 
make  mention  of  general  facts. 

Juvenile  delinquents  are  infantile  mendicants  ripened  by  time  and  circum- 
stances. Foremost  among  them  are  the  boy-burglars  and  thieves  who  have 
become  at  least  a  gi-ave  annoyance  of  metropolitan  life.  There  is  notliing  too 
trivial  to  escape  the  attention  of  these  young  marauders,  and  their  physical  in- 
significance is  to  their  advantage  in  their  work  of  depredation.  They  go  with 
nonchalant  ease  where  bolder  spirits  would  fear  to  tread  and  larger  bodies 
fail  to  penetrate.  Having  none  of  the  caution,  of  experience,  and  able  to  crawl 
into  the  crevices  of  buildings,  all  the  vagaries  of  theft  are  laid  to  their  charge. 
I  could  not  have  an  apter  illustration  than  a  case  wliich  occurred  on  the  day  I 
reached  this  page  in  mj'  ^\'l•iting.  Three  boys,  each  twelve  years  of  age,  hav- 
ing glided  in  unnoticed  during  business  hours,  easily  secreted  themselves  in  the 
premises  at  the  corner  of  West  Broadway  and  Franklin  street  until  the  house 
was  closed;  that  being  done  they  began  operations  while  it  was  still  daylight,  by 
ransacking  the  office,  where  they  were  in  plain  view  from  the  neighlioring 
houses.  Of  course  they  were  discovered,  but  so  small  were  they  that  Capt. 
Petty  searched  an  hour  before  he  found  them  stowed  away  in  a  coal-hole  under 
tlie  sidewalk.  Boy-burglars  always  commit  some  such  blunder  as  this  in  their 
operations,  but  in  spite  of  blundering  are  often  so  favored  by  circumstances 
that  their  enterprises  are  successful.  Their  particular  depredation  is  to  enter 
unoccupied  houses  and  sti'ip  them  of  whatever  they  can  conveniently  carry 
away.  The  summer  months,  when  large  numbers  of  families  go  into  the  coun- 
try for  weeks,  leaving  their  homes  entirely  unprotected,  oft'er  an  opportunity 
to  burglars  which  is  never  neglected,  and  very  few  of  these  houses  escape  pil- 
lage. Sometimes  a  clean  sweep  of  everything  portable  is  made,  which  is  sat- 
isfactory evidence  that  adults  have  been  at  work ;  and  sometimes  only  a  few 
trifling  articles  are  missing,  but  much  wanton  damage  is  done  to  what  is  left, 
which  is  sure  proof  that  boys  have  been  about.  But  the  especial  field  of  juve- 
nile burglars  is  found  in  houses  which  are  to  let,  and  are  therefore  left  to  care 
for  themselves  by  the  police.  The  boys  easily  gain  entrance,  and  once  in  are 
secure  in  the  intrusion,  however  protracted  it  may  be.  There  is  nothing  to 
operate  upon  apparently  but  the  bare  floors  and  walls,  but  the  boys  find  jjort- 
able  plunder  in  the  gas  and  water  fixtures.  Not  only  do  they  wrench  off 
fiiucets  and  burners,  but  they  pull  the  pipes  out  of  the  walls,  and  frequently  do 
a  damage  of  hundreds  of  dollars  in  obtaining  plunder  for  which  they  get  only 
a  few  cents  from  the  junkmen.  The  water  is  very  rarely  cut  off  at  tlie  street 
from  vacant  houses ;  and  where  it  is  not,  this  breakage  of  the  pipes  causes  the 
flooding  of  the  houses,  which  is  often  the  first  intimation  obtained  of  the  rob- 
bery. While  this  spoliation  of  such  houses  is  always  done  by  boys,  and  cases 
of  it  are  occurring  every  day,  it  by  no  means  absorbs  the  attention  of  all  juve- 
nile delinquents.  There  are  others  who  are  engaged  in  breaking  show-casea 
incautiously  left  on  the  sidewalks  at  night  and  robbing  them  of  their  contents.  . 


122  THE  NETHER  SIDE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

There  are  some  who  loiter  about  the  doors  of  the  smaller  shops  Tratching  an 
oi)portunity  to  slip  behind  the  counter  and  rob  the  till.  This  also  is  an  every- 
day occurrence  and  the  small  size  of  the  thieves  peculiarly  adapts  them  to  the 
crime  and  renders  them  remarkably  successful  in  it;  where  a  manor  half- 
grown  boy  would  be  sure  to  be  seen  or  heard,  the  urchin  of  eight  or  ten  years 
glides  noiseless  and  invisible.  These  same  advantages  are  apparent  in  hi^ 
dejiredations  upon  the  property  exposed  at  the  doors  of  shojis  where  he  lingers 
unsuspected  to  snatch  iip  a  ^Dair  of  shoes,  a  jacket,  or  something  of  like  nature 
which  he  can  easily  carry  oflf. 

The  principal  methods  of  thieveiy  employed  by  boys  have  been  stated,  but 
no  pretence  is  made  that  the  list  is  complete.  Every  case  of  crime  develops 
some  distinctive  features  which  tend  to  remove  it  from  the  class  to  Avhich  it 
seems  to  belong,  and  the  means  of  robbery  are  therefore  almost  as  varied  as  the 
peculiarities  of  cases.  Tliis  is  especially  true  of  the  depredations  of  vagrant 
girls,  and  I  have  not  therefore  attempted  to  do  more  than  generalize  concern- 
ing them.  They  never  commit  burglary  and  rarely  street  robberies  or  from 
stoi'es,  and  they  principally  confine  themselves  to  what  is  called  "  the  domestic 
lay."  Gaining  access  to  dwellings  by  pretence  of  begging  or  selling  matches 
carried  in  a  large  basket,  they  snatch  up  and  secrete  Avhatever  is  presented  by 
opportunity,  if  it  is  nothing  better  than  a  handkerchief  or  a  pewter  spoon.  But 
almost  the  only  method  of  robbery  which  is  peculiar  to  vicious  street  girls  is 
that  practised  by  the  flower  girls,  who  are  about  twelve  years  of  age,  rather 
handsome  in  features  and  modest  in  demeanor.  Sufficiently  attractive  to  mak« 
the  story  probable,  and  having  enough  adroitness  to  give  it  the  further  proba- 
bility of  an  opportunity  having  been  had,  they  boldly  demand  hush  money  of 
gentlemen  for  alleged  impi'oper  liberties  taken  with  them.  Tliere  are  scores 
of  these  girl  blackmailers,  and  they  are  the  most  dangerous  and  profligate  of 
all  juvenile  ofienders.  It  is  to  the  credit  of  the  city  that,  although  yet  in  ex- 
istence, they  are  much  less  numerous  than  they  were  a  couple  of  years  ago, 
when  Police  Captain  Thorne  discovered  a  regularly  organized  band  of  them. 
Such  incredible  youthful  depravity  was  so  clearly  shown  on  that  occasion  that 
the  story  is  worthy  of  brief  recital.  A  gentleman  of  irreproachable  cliaracter 
and  extensively  engaged  in  business  called  upon  Captain  Thorne  and  frankly 
stated  that  he  was  the  victim  of  one  of  these  flower  girls,  who  liad  already  de- 
spoiled him  of  large  sums  of  money,  and  whose  persecutions  were  actually  kill- 
ing him.  It  appeared  that  she  always  came  to  his  counting-house  on  particu- 
lar days  and,  watching  until  he  was  alone,  went  Ijoldly  into  his  private  oftice. 
In  police  parlance,  they  "  jjut  up  a  job  on  her."  Cajotain  Thorne  was  secreted 
in  a  closet  in  the  oflice  the  next  time  she  called,  and  the  gentleman  talked  to 
her  as  previously  arranged.  He  began  by  asking  her  why  she  pei-sisted  in  her 
demands  upon  him,  for,  said  he,  "  you  know  I  never  had  anything  to  do  with 
you,  never  said  an  improper  word  to  you."  The  young  analyst  of  human  na- 
ture answered  unabashed,  "  I  know  that;  but  who'll  Ijclieve  you  if  I  say  you 
did?"  Captain  Thorne,  dressed  in  full  police  uniform,  stepped  from  tlie  closet 
with,  "  I  will  for  one,  Mary !  "  The  girl,  young  as  slie  was,  had  enough  expe- 
rience in  devious  ways  to  see  that  her  game  had  escaped,  and  readily,  although 
sullenly,  promised  to  cease  exacting  tribute  in  that  particular  quarter.  The 
gentleman  would  go  no  furtlier,  and  to  the  earnest  entreaties  of  Captain  Tiiorne 
to  prosecute  the  girl,  l)oth  for  her  own  good  and  that  of  society,  returned  au 
absolute  refusal.  Captain  Thorne  was  therefore  obliged  to  let  her  go  with  a 
warning  not  to  attempt  her  operations  again  anywliere.  He  also  remonstrated 
with  her  upon  her  way  of  living,  and  asked  her  why  she  did  sucli  things.     The 


OUTCAST  CHILDREN.  123 

hardened  girl  morosely  answered  tliat  all  the  other  gu'ls  did  them,  and  thus 
gave  a  clue  which  was  followed  until  it  developed  the  gang  of  feminine  black- 
mailers of  tender  years,  working  in  concert,  which  has  been  referred  to.  Al- 
though the  band  was  then  disi^ersed,  the  method  of  robbery  it  employed  sur- 
vived, and  is  yet  extensively  used  by  scores  of  girls  under  the  cover  of  selling 
not  only  flowers,  but  apples  and  other  fruits. 

It  is  impossible  to  give  the  exact  numbers  of  the  juvenile  thieves  of  all 
classes  to  be  found  at  all  times  in  New  York.  All  outcast  children  are  so  liable 
at  any  moment  to  pass  the  line  between  vagrancy  and  crime,  that  the  two 
classes  are  practically  only  one.  But  there  are  two  phases  of  infantile  misfor- 
tune presented  in  the  streets  which  are  distinguishable  from  all  others,  and 
from  each  other.  One  is  the  children  temporarily  lost,  who  are  outcasts  for  a 
few  hours,  and  crowd  into  that  brief  time  unnecessary  but  unutterable  misery. 
In  the  past  ten  years  66,809  children  have  come  into  the  hands  of  the  police  as 
lost,  which  is  an  average  of  6,680  per  j^ear,  and  of  nearly  19  per  day.  Most  of 
the  cases,  however,  occur  in  the  summer  months,  when  the  children,  getting 
hito  the  street  to  play,  wander  off  a  few  rods,  are  unable  to  find  their  way  home, 
and  soon  attract  attention  by  their  lusty  lamentations  at  the  discovery.  They 
are  then  handed  over  to  the  first  pati'olman  who  is  met,  who  takes  them  to  his 
precinct  station.  They  are  retained  until  nightfiill,  when  they  are  sent  from  all 
portions  of  the  city  to  Police  Headquarters,  No.  300  Mulberry  street,  where  a 
large  dormitory  has  been  prepared  for  their  reception  on  the  top  floor  of  the 
building.  They  are  kept  there  in  charge  of  a  judicious  matron  until  claimed 
by  the  parents ;  but  if  this  does  not  occur  within  three  days,  an  accurate  descrip- 
tion of  the  children  is  taken  and  they  are  sent  to  the  Commissioners  of  Chari- 
ties. But  this  rarely  happens,  and  if  the  children  are  not  claimed  at  the  sta- 
tions, as  many  are,  they  are  so  generally  sought  by  the  parents  at  Police  Head- 
quarters, that  very  few  remain  even  through  one  night. 

The  foundlings  have  a  far  dilierent  fate.  During  the  past  ten  years  939  of 
the  waifs  on  the  sea  of  sin,  who  are  outcasts  from  the  moment  of  their  birtli, 
have  been  picked  up  in  the  streets ;  and  it  is  a  notable  foct,  upon  which  I  do  not 
care  to  moralize,  that  161  of  these  foundlings  were  picked  up  by  the  police  in 
1870,  and  178  in  1869,  although  the  Foundling  Asylum  was  in  full  operation 
during  1870,  and  for  that  reason  a  large  diminution  in  the  police  cases  had  been 
expected.  Formerly,  when  these  castaway  babes  were  found  in  the  streets,  it 
was  the  custom  to  transfer  them  as  soon  as  possible  to  the  care  of  the  Commis- 
sioners of  Charities,  by  whom  they  were  placed  in  one  of  the  public  asylums, 
where  most  of  them  speedily,  and  as  a  matter  of  course,  died.  Being  now 
committed  to  the  more  careful  chai-ge  of  the  new  Foundling  Asylum,  a  larger 
proportion  of  them  survive  to  become  public  burdens  during  the  years  of  in- 
fancy, and  to  be  in  after  life  whatever  chance  may  determine  for  a  child  wlio 
never  had  a  home.  It  does  not  come  within  the  scope  of  the  present  article  to 
deal  with  the  causes  of  infant  abandonment  nor  with  its  eflects  either  upon  its 
subjects  or  the  community.  I  give  now  only  the  bare  record  of  the  numljcr  of 
these  castaways  as  sufficient  for  my  purpose. 

There  are  other  juvenile  outcasts  who  are  self-helpful,  and  therefore  less 
painful  to  the  observer  than  the  classes  which  have  been  mentioned.  Tliese 
are  the  thousands  of  boys  and  girls  who  are  in  great  part  friendless  and  home- 
less, but  scour  the  sti-eets  for  a  livelihood  to  such  good  purpose  tliat  few  of 
them  actually  suffer  for  the  necessaries  of  life.  Chiefly  newsboys  and  boot- 
blacks, they  are  the  gamins  of  an  advanced  civilization,  and  could  exist  only 


124  THE  XETHER  SIDE  OF  NEW  YORK.  [Sept. 

where  the  undue  aggregation  of  humanity  has  produced  the  poverty  which  in- 
evitably attends  such  herding.     Generally  ragged,  often  hatless  or  shoeless,  or 
both,  unclean  in  person  and  language,  the  newsboys  are  a  class  by  themselves. 
Nowhere  else,  and  among  no  other  human  beings,  is  there  so  much  energy,  in- 
dependence, eft'rontery,  cunning,  shiftlessness.  and  contentedness  witli  the  lot 
fortune  sends.     Out  at  four  o'clock  in  the  morning  to  crowd  the  folding-rooms 
of  the  morning  newspapers,  they  can  be  seen  from  then  until  late  at  night, 
when  they  are  vending  the  evening  journals,  scouring  every  part  of  the  city 
and  he^rd  everywhere  shouting  their  wares  into  the  general  ear.     Each  sale 
they  make  yields  only  a  cent  or  a  fraction  of  a  cent  prolit,  and  it  can  be  readily 
seen  that  they  must  make  many  sales,  involving  hours  of  tiiue  and  a  terrible 
sti-ain  upon  youthful  muscles,  for  them  to  gain  even  a  scanty  subsistence.     If  a 
boy  sells  one  hundred  papers  per  daj',  he  is  doing  more  than  an  average  busi- 
ness, but  his  profits  amount  onlv  to  about  fifty  cents ;  so  that  three  dollars  per 
week  is  more  than  the  general  reward  of  an  occupation  that  consumes  fourteen 
hours  per  day  and  requires  a  daily  capital  almost  equal  to  the  weekly  profits. 
Out  of  these  scanty  earnings,  got  at  such  a  great  cost,  the  newsbo}'  can,  if  he 
will,  live  cleanly  and  comfortably.     Although  as  a  class  improvident  in  the  last 
degree,  hundreds  of  the  newsboys  take  the  benefits  of  the  practical  philanthropy 
of  the  Children's  Aid  Society,  which  has  established  the  Newsboys'  Lodging 
House  at  No.  49  Park  Place,  where  a  boy  can  obtain  wholesome  meals  and  a  clean 
bed  at  a  cost  of  six  cents  each.     Less  than  half  his  petty  profits  therefore  suffices 
for  his  sustenance  and  shelter,  leaving  him  twenty-six  cents  per  day  to  provide 
him  clothing  and  other  necessaries.      Human  thrift  has  nfver  had  a  more 
extreme  example  than  that  out  of  such  gains  as  these  a  fund  of  $2, 433  GO  has 
accumulated  in  the  savings  bank  attached  to  the  lodging  house,  from  deposits 
made  by  J, 104  boys  of  their  surplus  pennies.     But  cheering  as  this  fact  is, 
when  otliers  are  considered,  the  impi'ovidence  of  the  mass  and  the  vast  total  of 
homeless  boys  remain  uncontradicted.     During  the  year  1870,  8,655  different 
boys  were  inmates  for  differing  periods  of  the  lodging-house,  and  of  this  num- 
ber 3,122  were  orphans,  3,651  were  half-orphans.     Of  the  whole  number  33  per 
cent,  wei-e  received  at  the  lodging  house  gratuitously,  because  they  were  des- 
titute; and  we  are  thus  brouglit  face  to  face  with  the  api:)alling  fact  that  during 
1870  2.500  boys  under  the  age  of  fourteen  years  sought  in  vain  in  the  streets  of 
New  York  for  the  subsistence  that  costs  only  twentj^-four  cents  per  day.     That 
this  is  a  misery  that  is  forced  upon  and  not  sought  by  its  victims,  is  shown  by 
the  fact  that  during  the  year  only  713  of  those  admitted  to  the  lodging  house 
were  found  to  be  truants  Mdio  had  fled  from  comfortable  homes  from  an  uncon- 
trollable spirit  of  adventure.     All  the  others  were  actually  homeless,  nor  did 
tliey  constitute  the  total  of  the  infantile  privation  of  tlie  year.     All  those  ad- 
mitted to  the  lodging  house  do  not  sell  newspapers,  nor  do  all  who  do  seek  its 
comforts.     There  are  hundreds,  many  of  whom  are  girls,  who  are  suffering  tha 
mai-tyrdom  of  profligate  parentage.     Less  fortunate  than  their  orplianed  com- 
rades who  can  find  refuge  in  the  sanctuaries  provided  by  a  wise  beneficence, 
tliese  outcasts  must  go  at  niglit  to  l)rutal  ])arents  in  foul  tcHKnucMit  dcMis,  to  be 
kicked,  cursed,  and  despoiled  of  ev(!rv  jxiimy  of  their  earnings  for  the  benefit 
of  the  rumseller.     Takcm  altogether,  the  newsboys  are  subjected  to  great  priva- 
tions and  terrible  temptations.     Among  them  are  many  who,  surviving  the  one 
and  proving  superior  to  the  other,  are  to  emerge  from  this  shrouded  infancy 
into  an  honorable  manliood.     But  among  tliem  are  many  othei's  who  are  to  es- 
cape all  evil  in  a  pauper  grave  before;  cliildliood  is  passed,  or  failing  this  beati- 
tude are  to  become  confirmed  va<n-ants  and  thieves. 


OUTCAST  CHILDREN.  125 

Akin  to  the  newsboys  in  many  respects  are  the  bootblacks,  who  are,  I  ow- 
ever,  a  much  smaller  class,  as  their  calling  has  of  late  years  greatly  decre.ised 
as  a  street  pursuit.  It  has  now  become  a  common  thing  for  a  boy  to  have  a 
number  of  customers  whom  he  serves  every  morning  at  their  places  of  busi- 
ness, at  a  fixed  rate  per  week;  and  some  of  them  make  more  money  than  un- 
skilled adults,  as  their  gains  amount  to  $12  or  $15  per  week.  But  tliose  are 
not  common  cases,  and  the  avei'age  is  about  $8  per  week  for  those  having  reg- 
ular customers.  The  nomads  who  roam  the  streets  or  lounge  in  tlie  public 
parks,  depending  upon  chance  patrons,  do  not  average  more  than  $5,  and  many 
of  them  glean  much  less  from  the  many  hours  of  the  day  and  night  which  they 
devote  to  their  calling.  Nor  is  the  mefigreness  of  its  rewards  the  only  hard- 
p'lip  of  their  avocation.  Of  all  street  children  seeking  an  honest  livelihood,  the 
bootblacks  are  most  liable  to  temptation.  Necessarily  having  much  time  un- 
employed by  their  trade,  they  use  it  in  penny-pitching  or  other  metliods  of 
petty  gambling.  They  learn  to  chew  tobacco  and  to  smoke  by  picking  up  the 
ends  of  cigars  which  have  been  cast  into  the  gutters.  They  become  more  pro- 
ficient in  profanity  than  the  Water  street  roughs,  and  rival  the  most  degraded 
in  obscenity.  The  rivalry  of  an  overdone  trade  makes  them  adepts  in  lying. 
Brought  in  contact  T\dth  all  classes  of  men,  they  are  reached  by  the  burglars, 
Avho  so  often  need  a  "kid  "  in  their  nefarious  enterprises,  and  thus  lead  tliese 
hapless  boys  to  deadly  fixmiliarity  Avith  crime.  Keeping  in  mind  these  general 
facts,  I  have  not  been  surprised  to  find  so  many  of  the  bootblacks  passing  so 
readily  into  criminal  practices.  In  their  homes  these  Arabs  of  the  street  are  no 
better  and  no  worse  off  than  their  comrades  of  all  classes  of  outcast  children. 
When  their  hours  of  seeldng  for  labor  are  brought  to  a  close  by  the  thoroughfares 
becoming  solitudes,  they  must  kennel  like  dogs  in  some  area,  must  go  to  the 
foulness  of  some  tenement,  or  must  seek  some  one  of  the  lodging  houses  which 
the  charity  of  New  York  has  provided  for  the  little  Avanderers  in  its  streets. 

The  army  of  juvenile  vagabondage  has  been  briefly  reviewed  in  its  leading 
divisions,  and  the  sources  of  its  recruitment  can  be  briefly  and  distinctly  stated. 
Liquor  is  at  the  bottom  of  all  of  it.  If  not  the  immediate  cause,  the  traffic  in 
alcoholic  liquors  is  remotely  responsible  for  tlie  casting  adrift  from  the  anchor- 
age of  home  of  every  juvenile  outcast  found  in  the  streets.  Years  ago  I  read 
in  an  English  periodical  the  short,  sad  story  of  Elsie,  a  St.  Giles  child.  The 
father  died,  and 

'Twas  hard  upon  his  death,  I  think. 
That  Elsie's  mother  took  to  drink, 
And  harder  still  on  Elsie. 

That  told  the  whole  story.  The  St.  Giles  imfortunate  became  an  outcast  and 
Ahorse.  In  New  York  and  in  London  the  same  causes  produce  tlie  same  effects. 
Only  the  rum  trafiic  could  make  the  tenements  of  GreeuAvich  and  Cherry 
streets  possible,  and  only  the  profligate  debauchery  produced  by  it  could  cast 
ten  thousand  children  out  of  a  million  of  people,  in  such  a  country  as  this, 
liomeless  upon  the  Avorld.  EA'ery  agent  of  every  organized  charity  engaged  in 
the  labor  of  saving  these  children  Avill  bear  Avitness  that  he  has  found  the  pa- 
rents, if  living,  drunken  Avrecks,  or  if  dead,  the  victims  of  intemperance.  Ordi- 
nary prudence  and  industry  Avill  enable  any  adult  in  the  United  States  to  eai'ii 
suflicient  to  keei)  those  dependent  upon  him  from  Avant,  and  I  dare  affirra  the 
same  of  a  place  so  exceptional  to  the  country  at  large  as  Ncav  York.  But  tJiere 
is  not  ordinary  industry  and  prudence  in  the  mass  of  the  population  of  a  city 
whicli  lias  7,500  grog-shops,  or  one  to  every  one  hundred  and  tAventy-six  of  its 
people.     At  least  $15,000,000  are  SAvallowed  up  every  year  by  these  grog 


126  THE  NETHER  SIDE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

shops,  and  three  dollars  in  every  ten  come  out  of  the  pockets  of  the  tenement 
classes.  The  $5,000,000  tlms  wasted,  if  legitimately  used,  would  more  than 
provide  a  comfortable  home  for  every  vagabond  child  in  New  York. 

Talking  upon  this  subject  with  Mr.  Charles  L.  Brace,  the  accomplished  Sec- 
retary of  the  Children's  Aid  Societj-,  he  held  that  orphanage  was  a  leading 
cause  of  juvenile  vagrancy;  but  when  I  came  to  inquire  as  to  the  orphanage, 
it  was  found  to  be  caused  in  almost  every  case,-  directly  or  indirectly,  by  intem- 
perance. Of  course  people  would  continue  to  die  if  there  were  not  a  drop  of 
alcoholic  liquor  in  the  world,  and  would  die  at  all  ages ;  but  fewer  of  them 
would  die  in  middle  life,  and  still  fewer  leaving  their  families  totally  un- 
provided for.  Alcohol,  therefore,  as  found  in  intoxicating  liquors,  if  not  im- 
mediately, is  remotely  chargeable  with  the  mass  of  misery  which  I  have  pre- 
sented. Of  the  immediate  causes  the  figures  of  the  Newsboys'  Lodging  House 
show  that  orphanage  is  a  i^rincipal  one,  and  conversation  with  the  outcasts 
proves  that  parental  profligacy  is  another.  "  They  beat  me  so  I  couldn't  stay," 
or  "  Father  and  mother  fought  so  much  I  run  away,"  are  common  excuses  of 
the  children  who  are  found  wandering  destitute  in  the  sti-eets;  but  in  every  one 
of  these  cases  Avhich  has  been  fully  probed,  whiskey  has  been  found  to  be  at  the 
bottom  of  it. 

There  are  some  of  these  outcasts,  however,  Avho  cast  themselves  upon  the 
Avorld  from  a  spirit  of  adventure.  Every  year  many  boys  and  a  few  girls  are 
picked  up  in  the  streets  who  have  drifted  into  the  citj'  from  the  surrounding 
country.  There  is  a  delusion  that  New  York  is  an  El  Dorado  to  every  one 
who  can  reach  it,  and  the  delusion  drags  thither  hundreds  of  children  as  well 
as  thousands  of  adults.  The  former  come  in  during  the  summer  months  by 
the  canals,  as  helpers,  or  on  foot,  begging  or  filching  their  food  en  route,  and 
reach  the  city,  where  they  expect  to  find  money  as  easily  as  thistles  on  their  na- 
tive heaths.  Hundreds  of  such  cases  are  picked  up  in  the  streets  every  year, 
and  in  the  majority-  of  them  it  is  fbund  that  the  boys  left  good  homes,  impelled 
by  an  uncontrollable  desire  to  make  their  fortunes  in  the  metropolis  or  see  its 
wonders,  foremost  among  which  the  theatres  are  always  found.  Nor  do  the  thea- 
tres lure  counti'y  boys  alone,  for  the  sensational  drama  as  found  in  the  Bowery 
has  enticed  shoals  of  city  boys  from  their  homes  and  into  criminal  i:)ractices. 
That  I  may  show  that  this  is  no  mere  assertion,  it  is  proper  to  state  that  a 
leading  laborer  for  juvenile  reformation  recently  conversed  with  fifty  young 
convicts  picked  at  random  from  the  penitentiary  on  Blackwell's  Island,  and 
found  that  all  of  them,  with  very  few  exceptions,  had  become  criminals  when 
small  boys,  by  the  theft  from  their  parents,  or  wherever  else  they  could  find 
•hem,  of  the  few  cents  required  to  secure  admission  to  the  pit  of  the  theatre. 
One  of  the  exceptions  had  done  this  also,  but  he  rather  prided  himself  upon  be- 
ing a  natural  thief,  for  he  boasted  that  when  only  four  years  of  age  he  had 
stolen  two  cents  from  his  mother,  and  the  cunning  and  delight  with  Avhich  he 
hid  it  seemed  to  be  still  one  of  his  chief  pleasures. 

Vast  as  it  is,  the  evil  would  be  much  greater  but  for  the  constant  and  intel- 
ligent efforts  which  are  made  for  its  amelioration.  The  saving  and  reforma- 
tory agencies  which  have  been  at  work  for  many  years  in  the  gutters  of  the 
city,  have  left  behind  them,  as  we  have  seen,  a  terrible  total  of  juvenile  misery 
and  depravity;  but  Avithout  the  work  thej^  have  done  the  criminal  and  paujjei 
classes  would  be  twentyfold  what  they  are.  It  is  almost  painful  to  contem- 
plate what  would  be  the  condition  of  the  city  if  these  classes  had  been  d'ialt 
with  by  the  law  alone.     It  requires  consideral^le  patience  to  look  upon  the  law 


OUTCAST  CHILDREN".  127 

dealing  with  any  class  of  offenders,  but  Job  himself  would  have  been  unequal 
to  the  task  of  viewing  its  proceedings  with  children. 

If  any  one  desires  illustrations  of  the  stupid  carelessness  of  the  law  in  deal- 
ing with  juvenile  delinquents,  they  can  be  found  any  day  in  the  procedings  of 
the  police  courts.  Taking  a  most  common  case,  I  will  however  cite  that  of 
the  two  boy-burglai-s  caught  coming  from  a  store  in  Greenwich  street,  to 
which  they  had  made  burglarious  entrance  tlu-oi;gh  the  skylight,  Avhich  they 
had  reached  from  the  roof  of  the  adjoining  tenement.  These  facts  being  stated 
in  the  fewest  possible  words  to  the  magistrate,  without  the  slightest  inquiry  as 
to  their  past  history,  they  were  sent  to  a  cell  in  the  Tombs.  But  they  had  been 
attendants  for  a  short  time  of  one  of  the  industrial  schools  of  tlie  Children's 
Aid  Society,  were  searched  for  by  its  agents,  rescued  from  prison,  and  although 
many  months  have  since  elapsed,  neither  has  again  transgi-essed,  and  tliere  is  a 
chance  of  saving  both  of  tliem.  I  must  also  tell  of  the  experience  of  Dr.  Elisha 
Harris,  Secretary  of  the  New  York  Prison  Association,  with  a  boy  of  fifteen 
years  whom  he  found  in  jail,  and  who  had  spent  three  years  of  liis  brief  life  in 
penal  confinement  for  petty  thefts.  Anxious  to  know  what  effort  had  ever 
been  made  to  reclaim  the  boy.  Dr.  Harris  asked  him  what  the  Judge  had  said  to 
him  when  he  was  arraigned.  It  appeared  that  it  had  been  his  misfortune  to 
encounter  the  same  magistrate  on  the  occasion  of  each  transgression.  The 
first  time  he  was  asked  if  he  were  not  ashamed  of  himself,  the  second  time 
was  told  that  he  was  an  incorrigible  young  rascal,  and  the  third  time  was  in- 
formed that  he  was  sure  to  be  hanged.  The  boy,  who  had  been  more  thought- 
less than  criminal,  speedily  became  a  believer  in  his  own  total  depravity ;  but 
the  words  of  kindly  advice  addressed  him  by  Dr.  Harris  had  such  effect,  that  he 
was  anxious  to  know  if  he  could  have  a  chance  to  learn  a  trade  when  he  got 
out,  and  do  something  besides  steal.  There  is  at  least  a  chance  that,  despite  the 
sti'enuous  efforts  of  the  law  to  make  him  a  confirmed  criminal,  the  boy  will  find 
more  remunerative  employment  than  petty  thievery.  These  cases  might  be 
multiplied  endlessly,  but  the  mass  would  only  be  cumulative  evidence  that  the 
law  as  administered  in  New  York,  and  (so  far  as  I  have  seen  or  read)  every- 
where else,  is  either  criminally  careless  in  dealing  with  juvenile  delinquencies, 
or  is  a  devout  believer  in  original  sin  and  compelled  to  meet  children  in  the 
spirit  of  the  theology  that  dooms  babes  to  perdition. 

Nor  has  the  institutionizing — if  I  may  be  allowed  to  coin  a  needed  word — 
of  outcast  children  done  much  better  than  the  law.  Space  will  not  jjermit  the 
citation  of  facts,  much  less  an  argument  against  the  huddling  of  children  in 
public  reformatories,  and  I  must  be  content  ^vith  stating  that  Dr.  Wichern's  par- 
adox, "The  strongest  wall  is  no  wall,"  has  been  signally  illustrated  in  the  Indi- 
ana House  of  Refuge  and  the  Ohio  Reform  Farm,  where  the  "  family  plan  "  of 
dealing  with  juvenile  delinquents  has  been  found  a  vast  imi^rovement  upon  the  old 
semi-penal  system  yet  in  use  in  New  York.  The  city  has,  however,  many  pri- 
vate charities  working  on  the  same  plan  with  the  most  beneficent  results.  The 
Children's  Aid  Society  and  the  Howard  Mission  herd  children  as  little  as  pos- 
sible, and  do  the  work  of  salvation  by  transplanting  them  to  homes  which  are 
found  for  them  in  the  Western  States.  During  the  year  1870  the  foriner  took 
to  the  West,  where  they  were  scattered  among  the  thrifty  farmers,  2,757  per- 
sons, nearly  all  of  whom  were  children ;  and  since  1854  it  has  in  like  manner 
rescued  and  transplanted  21,829.  This  is  God''s  work.  No  agency  is  to-day  doing 
a  higher  service  to  mankind ;  none  is  doing  half  so  much  for  the  city  of  New 
York,  where  to-day  but  for  it  all  these  thousands  would  be  paupers  or  criminals 


PAUPERISM. 


Tins  is  a  city  of  princes  and  paupers.  Great  wealth  and  extreme  poyfrty 
are  found  elbow  to  elbow  almost  everywhere  from  the  Battery  to  Spuyten 
Dnyrel.  Here  is  tlie  stately  mansion,  there  the  tumbling  tenement.  In  the 
one  are  all  tlie  appliances  of  luxurious  ease  whicli  money  can  procurG,  and  in 
the  other  only  the  scantiest  necessaries  in  their  rudest  forms.  In  the  one  is 
everj'^  opportunity  to  cnlcivate  all  tlie  refinements  of  life ;  in  the  other  no  chance 
to  save  even  its  decencies.  In  the  one,  existence  is  a  feather  weight  scai'cely 
felt ;  in  the  other,  it  is  a  burden  that  bends  and  racks  the  burdened.  Nowhere 
on  the  Western  continent  are  there  such  contrasts  as  here.  No  other  city  can 
ecpial  our  splendor,  none  exceeds  our  squalor.  Nowhere  else  does  the  car- 
riage of  the  millionaire  sjiatter  the  gaunt  beggar  at  every  hour  on  every 
crosswalk.  No  other  human  hive  can  show  the  counterparts  of  Fifth  avenue 
and  Baxter  street.  No  other  city  is  so  deceptive  in  its  physical  aspects.  The 
raggedness  of  our  water  fronts  implies  that  we  are  poor  indeed,  and  the  mas- 
sive grandeur  of  our  central  jilateaus  declares  that  we  are  rich  bej'^ond  compu- 
tation. Both  are  exaggerations  of  the  actual  facts.  I  believe  there  are  agen- 
cies at  work  in  New  York  which,  left  unliampered,  will  sooner  or  later  make  one 
or  the  other  true.  I  do  not  pretend  to  guess  which  it  will  be,  for  I  hope  the 
social  conditions  which  render  either  possible  will  be  exterminated.  To  that 
end  all  facts  are  wanted.  I  have  shown  hitherto  how  more  than  half  the  pop- 
uiation  of  the  city  is  crammed  into  the  deadly  tenements.  I  now  deal  with  a 
smaller  but  more  helpless  and  useless  class. 

In  its  lowest  and  most  repulsive  form  our  pauperism  appears  as  the  station- 
house  "bummer."  A  creature  more  degraded,  more  utterly  worthless  in  hu- 
man economy,  it  is  impossible  to  find  anywhere  on  earth.  I  have  been  so  often 
in  contact  with  these  lazzaroni,  learning  liow  irreclaimable  they  are,  how 
helpless  the  law  is  in  handling  them,  that  I  have  ceased  to  have  charity  for 
them.  I  defy  any  one  to  share  a  night-watch  with  the  sergeants  at  any  po- 
lice station  in  the  city  without  having  his  heart  sealed  against  these  bummers. 
I  would  wager  lie  would  even  be  mentally  inquiring,  long  before  his  vigil 
ended,  whether  it  would  not  be  a  kindness  to  them  and  the  community  to  pitch 
them  off  a  pier  with  stones  tied  to  their  necks,  as  is  done  with  wortliless  curs. 
It  would  he  murder  doubtless,  but  you  almost  feel  certain  that  you  would  not 
only  liave  the  approval  of  your  conscience,  but  tliat  any  jury  knowing  merely  the 
surface  facts  would  bring  it  in  justifiable  homicide.  It  is  these  surface  facts 
which  are  so  distressingly  aggravating.  On  any  one  of  the  muggy,  chilly 
nights  so  common  during  the  fall  and  winter,  tlie  inquirer  can  see  them  all  by 
merely  standing  for  an  liour  or  two  in  the  office  of  any  one  of  the  police  sta- 
tions below  Fifty-ninth  street.  There  are  twentj'-four  such  houses,  but  perhaps 
those  which  can  sliow  the  most  and  the  worst  of  the  evil  are  those  in  OaV 
and  Mercer  streets.  But  at  all  the  houses  tlie  bummers  are  sure  to  appear 
witli  nightfall.  While  daylight  yet  lingers  you  will  see  tliem  liuddling  in  adJA- 
cent  doorways.  They  are  ragged,  greasy,  tlieir  faces  foul,  their  liair  matted. 
They  look  rotten,  and  have  the  odor  of  a  damp  cellar  from  wiiicli  the  air  has 
long  been  excluded.     But  they  have  another  aspect,  and  the  more  sickening 


PAUPERISM.  129 

stench  of  the  vile  liquor  of  the  bucket-shop,  which  the  slums,  always  felicitous 
in  nomenclature,  have  called  benzine.  These  creatures  are  so  plainly  full  of  it 
that  no  insurance  surveyor  would  even  consider  a  risk  on  a  houoe  which  har- 
bors them ;  tliey  are  so  full  of  it  that  you  wonder  every  minute  why  they  do 
not  explode,  and  you  would  not  dare  light  a  match  near  them  lest  you  might 
be  involved  in  the  sudden  and  general  conflagration  that  would  be  certain. 
And  you  keep  your  distance  for  another  reason.  You  see  even  from  a  distance 
that  they  are  infested  with  all  manner  of  vermin". 

If  any  one  believes  I  have  exaggerated,  let  him  go  and  look  for  himself. 
The  trouble  will  not  be  much,  for  wherever  he  may  be  he  will  have  a  police 
station  within  ten  minutes'  walk,  and  any  patrolman  will  direct  him.  But 
when  he  goes  let  him  do  the  inspection  thoroughly.  Wait  in  tlie  office  and  see 
these  beasts  troop  in  one  after  another,  demanding  "  A  night's  lodging,  sur," 
as  if  claiming  a  vested  right.  After  tliirty  or  forty  males  and  a  quarter  as 
many  females  have  been  told  to  go  back,  let  him  ask  the  same  privilege.  It 
will  be  readily  accorded,  and  in  rear  of  the  main  building  he  will  find  a  smaller 
one  two  stories  high.  The  first  floor  has  tlie  cells  for  prisoners,  tlie  second  the 
lodging-rooms  for  tramps.  These  are  two  in  number,  one  being  for  males,  the 
other  for  females.  Put  your  nose  in  the  former,  and  you  will  be  amazed  at  the 
suddenness  with  which  you  will  cast  up  accounts  with  your  last  meal.  But  do 
not  desist  for  any  such  trivial  incident  as  tliis ;  look  again  and  see  for  yourself 
the  degradation  and  squalor  which  a  Christian  city  can  harbor.  The  air  in  the 
room  is  thick  with  foulness ;  but  look  steadily  and  you  can  drag  the  horrors 
from  these  mists.  Tlie  room  is  not  more  than  eighteen  feet  each  way,  and  at 
least  thirty,  sometimes  as  many  as  seventy,  filthj'  men  are  crowded  into  it  for 
the  niglit.  The  first  comers  carefully  close  every  avenue  for  ventilation,  and 
lie  down  on  the  planks,  which  are  the  rewards  of  priority  in  arrival.  Tlieir 
successors  stretch  upon  the  stone  floor,  or  on  each  other,  and,  steaming  in  the 
foul  exhalations  from  their  bodies,  sleep  till  daylight,  when  they  are  turned 
out  to  tramp  the  streets  till  nightfall  again.  But  before  they  sleep  a  third  of 
the  tramps  spend  an  hour  in  jDicking  the  vermin  from  themselves  and  deposit- 
ing tliem  on  tlieir  neighbors.  A  few  are  even  more  radical,  and  liaving  washed 
their  clothes  in  the  water-trough  which  fills  one  corner  of  the  room,  hang  them 
around  the  red-hot  stove  and  lay  themselves  naked  on  the  floor. 

In  the  female  room  are  the  same  scenes  and  stenches,  mitigated  only  by  the 
smaller  number  of  occupants.  Men  and  women  are  alike  in  tliese  holes  in  their 
filthiness,  laziness,  drunkenness.  Both  go  out  at  daylight  to  wander  the  streets, 
begging  food  at  basement  windows,  draining  the  dregs  from  tlie  beer  kegs  set 
outside  the  saloons,  earning  a  dollar  occasionally  by  some  short  job  of  liglit 
work,  and  invariably  spending  it  in  liquor.  Both  get  their  ragged  raiment  by 
brazen  beggary,  and  both  are  incapable  of  the  persistent  labor  necessary  to 
raise  them  out  of  their  degradation.  Neither  will  work  except  for  an  hour 
when  driven  to  it  to  obtain  a  dose  of  alcoholic  stimulant.  I  have  seen  it  tested 
so  often  that  I  am  quite  sure  of  the  fact.  Pliilanthropists,  who  were  strangers 
to  the  characteristics  of  the  bummers,  have  often  been  shocked  by  their  condi- 
tion, and  have  made  exertions  to  procure  them  remunerative  employment. 
Sometimes  the  bummers  have  pretended  to  be  eager  for  the  chance,  and  liave 
promised  to  appear  at  an  appointed  place,  but  they  never  kept  their  promises. 
'More  often  they  have  not  made  even  a  pretence  of  desiring  employment,  but 
have  flatly  refused  it  or  made  impossible  demands  as  to  wages.  Time  and 
again  I  have  seen  them  oftered  the  opportunity  of  getting  out  of  the  vilest  of 


130  THE  NETHER  SIDE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

tlie  city  slums  to  become  laborers  in  the  rural  districts,  and  I  never  saw  one  of 
tliem  accept  the  chance.  Yet  many  of  them  are  apparently  robust  men  and 
women,  capable  of  any  amount  of  i)hysical  exertion.  Why  they  do  not  fall  to 
pieces  from  mere  rottenness  it  is  impossible  to  conjecture,  but  they  do  not. 
Year  after  year  tliey  appear  at  the  station-house  seemingly  none  tlie  worse. 
An}-  old  police  captain  or  sergeant  can  point  out  several  of  tliese  bummers 
whom  they  knew  as  such  years  ago,  and  who  have  sle^rt  every  night  in  tlie  nox- 
ious air  of  the  lodging-rooms,  but  are  to  all  appearances  yet  in  vigoi'ous  health. 
I  never  knew  of  any  pestilence  seizing  them  except  the  relapsing  fever,  and 
that  killed  only  a  few  of  them.  They  are  satires  upon  the  hygienic  laws  wliich 
declare  foul  air  to  be  fatal  to  life,  and  personal  filthiness  to  be  a  repulsive  l)ut 
swift  method  of  suicide.  They  are  evidence  in  reljuttal  of  the  general  belief 
that  vile  liquor  is  poisonous  and  tends  to  shorten  life.  Soaked  in  filtli  and  rum, 
they  live  on  year  after  year,  and  seem  to  keep  robust  on  an  experience  that 
ought  to  kill  them  in  a  month. 

Such  creatures  as  these  make  up  the  bulk  of  the  station-house  lodgers.  The 
Police  Commissioners  report  140,000  lodgings  granted  during  the  year  at  the 
several  stations  of  the  citj',  which  is  an  average  of  about  5,000  to  each  station. 
Some  of  these,  however,  such  as  the  Twelfth,  Tiiirtieth,  Tiiirty -first,  and  Thir- 
ty-second, being  remote  from  populous  portions  of  the  city,  have  very  few ;  and 
some  other  houses,  such  as  tlie  First,  Second,  Third,  Ninth,  Eleventh,  Four- 
teenth, Sixteenth,  and  Twenty-eighth,  have  limited  accommodations.  The 
140,000  lodgings  were  therefore  mostly  granted  in  the  Fourth,  Fifth,  Sixth, 
Seventh,  Eighth,  Tenth,  Thirteenth,  Fifteenth,  Seventeenth,  Eighteenth,  Nine- 
teenth, Twentieth,  and  Twenty-second,  some  of  which  during  the  winter  have 
had  as  many  as  100  per  night,  and  the  daily  average  of  several  during  the  en- 
tire year  has  been  35.  Of  all  the  lodgers  in  all  the  houses  a  lai'ge  portion 
are  bummers  who  sleep  always  in  these  places,  and  are  repeated  in  the  records 
almost  every  night  in  the  year.  Refused  admittance  in  one  house  because 
of  the  frequency  of  their  applications,  they  go  to  another,  where  they  have 
been  partially  forgotten,  and  continue  going  until  the  officers  there  also  refuse 
to  shelter  them  any  longer.  They  thus  make  the  rounds  of  all  the  houses, 
but  every  night  can  be  found  in  some  one  of  them.  Knowledge  of  this  fact 
robs  the  figures  of  the  Commissioners  of  much  of  their  significance,  and 
shows  the  station-house  lodgers  to  be  a  much  smaller  class  than  these  statistics 
would  indicate.  The  bummers  are  about  300  in  number,  and  represent  110,000 
of  the  140,000  lodgings  granted.  Of  the  remaining  30,000,  four-fifths-  are  rep- 
resented by  a  class  known  as  repe:i*^ers,  from  the  fact  that  they  rejjeat  their 
visits  several  times  each,  but  still  do  not  become  such  permanent  residents  as 
to  be  classed  as  bummers.  The  remaining  6,000  represent  the  actual  casuals, 
for  whom  these  refuges  were  designed.  None  of  them  are  repeaters,  and  the 
G,000  lodgings  therefore  are  equivalent  to  6,000  diflferent  persons  who  during  a 
single  year  found  themselves  upon  some  one  night  utterly  homeless  and  forced 
to  escape  the  inclemency  of  the  weather  by  huddling  with  the  bummers  and  re- 
peaters. It  is  these  unfortunates  who  are  the  real  suflerers  in  the  station-house 
lodging-rooms,  and  the  most  painful  of  all  its  aspects.  The  detection  of  the 
casual  in  one  of  these  rooms  by  a  visitor  is  easy  and  unerring.  He  will  al- 
ways be  found  in  one  of  the  corners  as  remote  as  possible  from  the  mass  of  filth 
about  him,  and  an  expression  of  unutterable  loathing  for  his  surroundings  npon 
his  face.  But  he  can  rarely  be  found  at  all  in  the  overcrowded  rooms  of  tne 
central  stations.     In  one  of  these  I  have  seen  hundreds  of  cases  where  a  man 


PAUPERISM.  131 

decently  dressed,  and  whose  exta-emity  was  plainly  but  temporary,  has  furtive- 
ly entered  the  office  and  asked  the  sergeant  for  lodging.  He  has  been  shown 
the  way  to  a  horror  of  Avhicli  he  before  had  not  the  slightest  conception,  but 
has  returned  with  his  guide,  and,  saying  that  he  cannot  stand  that,  has  gone  out 
t«  walk  the  cheerless  streets  during  the  whole  of  a  bitter  night. 

Liquor  leads  the  bummer  to  his  degradation,  and  sometimes  reconciles  the 
repeater  to  his  fate,  but  it  has  nothing  to  do  with  forcing  the  casual  to  become 
a  station-house  lodger.  Almost  invariably  the  casual  is  entirely  sober  when 
he  makes  his  application,  and  shows  no  signs  of  dissipation.  He  is  alwaj's  de- 
cently dressed,  and  of  such  cleanly  appearance  that  he  is  never  mistaken  for 
other  than  he  is,  although  he  seldom  volunteers  any  reason  for  seeking  the 
shelter  of  the  station,  and  it  is  never  asked  in  any  case.  Some,  however,  drop 
a  word  explanatory  of  their  condition,  and  from  these,  heard  occasionally  during 
some  years,  it  is  not  difficult  to  ascertain  the  sources  of  this  temporary  distress. 
Very  many,  probably  the  majority,  of  the  casuals  are  strangers  who  come  to 
the  city  for  a  day  or  two,  with  just  money  enough  to  get  them  home  again, 
but  happening  to  fall  among  thieves  are  plucked  of  every  dollar.  A  sharper 
or  a  man  of  nerve  under  such  circumstances  would  play  a  daring  game  of 
bluff  with  the  landlord  of  a  first-class  hotel ;  but  the  casual,  being  honest  and 
timid,  descends  to  trick  and  device  only  to  obtain  the  stamp  necessary  to  carry 
a  letter  to  liis  home  explaining  his  condition.  Then  he  wanders  the  streets 
until  exhausted,  and  having  not  even  an  acquaintance  in  this  vast  hive  of  hu- 
manity, which  to  him  is  a  solitude,  he  is  finally  driven  to  ask  a  patrolman  for 
advice  and  is  directed  to  the  station-house.  Thus  he  becomes  a  casual ;  and 
if  he  endures  the  horrors  of  a  midwinter  night  in  one  of  the  central  stations, 
he  is  likely  to  obtain  a  loathing  of  the  metropolis  which  lasts  his  lifetime. 
But  thgse  strangers  do  not  constitute  all  of  the  casuals.  There  is  a  remorseless 
freebooter  in  New  York  who  calls  his  plunder  "  rent  "  and  his  victims  tenants. 
He  has  a  delusion  that  he  has  given  an  equivalent  for  his  exactions  in  the  oc- 
cupancy of  his  house ;  but  as  he  demands  and  gets  his  money  in  advance  of  any 
such  occupancy,  it  is  easy  to  see  how  very  weak  is  the  delusion.  If  he  does 
not  get  it,  he  pounces  upon  his  tenant  with  a  "  dispossess  warrant,"  and  pitches 
him  with  his  family  and  household  goods  into  the  street.  These  victims  fur- 
nish another  considerable  portion  of  the  casuals ;  and  wherever  you  see  a  whole 
family  of  cleanly  aspect  entering  a  station  to  seek  lodging,  it  is  not  necessary 
to  ask  the  reason.  Another  class  of  casuals  are  the  young  men  who  are  sud- 
denly turned  out  of  their  boarding-houses  for  non-payment ;  and  there  is  no  lack, 
in  such  a  city  as  this,  of  such  sudden  reverses  of  fortune  that  a  man  lodges  one 
night  in  splendor  and  the  next  in  a  station.  Even  the  repeater  may  have 
lately  been  a  man  of  substance,  and  such  is  the  elasticity  of  metropolitan  life 
that  he  becomes  such  again.  I  have  known  of  many  cases  where  a  man  who 
has  been  knocked  by  a  rude  blow  of  fortune  into  a  station  lodging  has  tarried 
there  a  few  nights,  but  finally  managed  to  give  Fortune  as  good  as  slie  sent,  and 
in  a  short  time  was  forehanded  again.  This  recuperative  power  is  possessed 
only  by  men  not  broken  down  by  age  or  disease,  and  it  is  abnormally  great  in 
the  plucky  youths  who  are  plentiful  in  this  city.  One  such  two  years  ago  was 
flat  on  his  back,  but  by  explaining  his  needs  and  prospects  to  a  stranger  who 
met  him  in  the  station-house  managed  to  borrow  $5 ;  with  that  he  started  in 
business  again,  and  in  a  few  days  was  on  his  feet,  and  ever  since  has  staid  tliere. 
A  might  multiply  such  cases  indefinitely,  not  only  among  men,  but  women  also, 
for  a  part  of  the  lodgers  of  all  classes  are  females.     They  become  such  from 


132  THE  NETHER  SIDE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

the  same  causes  as  males,  but  in  much  smaller  numbers,  as  they  did  not  receive 
more  than  a  fifth  of  the  lodgings  granted  last  year,  and  nearly  all  of  these  Avere 
gi'anted  to  female  bummers,  Avithout  whom  lodgers  of  their  sex  would  be  yery 
few. 

Tliere  is  no  one  thing  in  the  nether  aspect  of  New  York  more  calculated  to 
excite  contempt  for  the  administration  of  affairs  than  the  fact  of  these  compara- 
tively few  male  and  female  hummers  gorging  the  pul)lic  lodging-rooms  year 
after  year,  monopolizing  the  scanty  shelter  tlie  city  has  provided  and  intended 
for  the  casual  poor.  It  seems  incredible  that  an  enlightened  city  should  foster 
vagabondage,  yet  this  is  precisely  what  New  York  is  doing  and  has  been  doing 
for  years.  There  would  seem  to  be  no  great  diificulty  in  w^eeding  out  a  class 
that  is  so  small  as  this,  but  the  policy  which  has  been  adopted  has  both  per- 
petuated and  increased  it.  In  other  cities  wliich  in  many  waj's  are  less  enlight- 
eneil  than  New  York,  these  confirmed  vagi'ants,  who  are  found  to  some  extent 
everywhere,  are  made  more  than  self-sustaining.  In  some  cities  they  are  set 
to  work  cleaning  or  x'epairing  streets,  but  the  more  sensible  method  of  dispos- 
ing of  them  is  their  commitment  to  farms  owned  by  the  corporation,  where 
these  incorrigible  idlers  are  compelled  to  labor  to  such  purpose  that  they  yield 
a  profit  to  the  public  treasury.  The  plan  has  the  further  effect  that  the  bum- 
mers acquire  habits  of  industry,  and  when  their  terms  of  service  expire  a  large 
porportion  of  them  wander  oft'  into  the  country  and  earn  their  way  as  farm  la- 
borers. In  New  York  nothing  of  the  sort  is  even  attempted.  The  bummers 
are  allowed  to  lounge  about  the  streets  by  day  and  sleep  regularly  in  the  sta- 
tion-houses every  night,  until  some  police  captain  becomes  disgusted  with  the 
nuisance  they  create,  and,  making  a  sudden  foray  upon  those  who  happen  to  be 
at  hand,  arrests  them  as  vagi-ants.  They  are  then  arraigned  before  a  police 
magistrate,  who  has  a  peculiar  method  of  disposing  of  them  which  he  calls  com- 
mitting them  to  the  "  care  of  the  Commissioners  of  Public  Charities  and  Cor- 
rection." This  ought  to  mean  a  protracted  term  in  the  workhouse,  but  it  really 
means  detention  for  a  few  hours  either  in  the  prison  of  the  court  or  in  one  of 
the  penal  establishments  in  the  charge  of  the  Commissioners,  after  which  the 
Inmimers  are  turned  out  to  resume  their  filthy  vagranc3\  If  New  York  had  a 
reform  farm  where  these  idlers  could  be  compelled  to  labor,  they  could  be  en- 
tirely extirpated  within  six  months.  Year  after  year  the  Police  Commis- 
sioners, and  latterly  the  Charity  Commissioners,  have  called  attention  to  the 
inadequacy  of  the  public  lodging-rooms  at  the  station-houses,  but  have  not 
asked  for  the  little  legislation  which  would  render  them  more  than  sufficient 
for  the  demand.  On  the  contrary,  there  is  evidence  that  th'e  bummers  are  to 
be  perjietuated  in  the  fact  that  a  large  building  has  just  been  secured  which  is 
to  be  used  exclusively  as  a  lodging-house. 

After  tlie  station-houses,  the  cellar  lodgings  furnish  the  most  repulsive 
aspect  of  our  pauperism.  There  is  no  means  of  knowing  exactly  how  many 
persons  lodge  every  night  in  these  holes,  Avhere  a  bed  can  be  had  for  a  few 
cents.  They  are  the  men,  women,  and  children  who  are  met  in  the  streets  by 
day  ragged  and  filthy,  and  generally  endeavoring  to  gain  the  means  of  living 
by  petty  traffic,  although  some  of  them  are  professional  beggars.  The  crowd- 
ing in  these  dens  is  somewhat  less  than  in  the  station-house  lodging-rooms, 
but  the  atmosphere  is  equally  foul.  In  some  cases  actual  cellars  many  feet 
under  gi'ound,  and  invariably  below  the  surface  of  the  streets,  these  lodgings 
have  long  been  one  of  the  gi'eatest  dangers  to  the  public  health  to  be  foimd  in 
the  city,  and  have  been  actively  warred  upon  by  the  Board  of  Health.     For- 


PAUrEFJSM  133 

merly  they  were  much  more  numerous  and  many  degrees  more  filthy  than 
they  are  at  present,  when  the  worst  have  been  closed  altogether,  and  those 
which  remain  have  been  much  imj)roved  by  the  rigid  enforcement  of  sanitary 
regulations.  In  tlie  old  days,  prior  to  the  establishment  of  the  Metropolitan 
Board  of  Health,  when  no  sanitary  control  was  exercised  over  these  slums, 
the  cellar  lodgings  were  even  more  of  an  affront  to  health  and  decency  than 
the  station-house  rooms  can  ever  become.  A  tour  among  them  now  will  sliow 
how  great  must  have  been  an  evil  which  it  is  claimed  has  been  vastly  miti- 
gated. Decrepit  men  and  women,  whose  gi'ay  hairs  and  bent  forms  tell  of  years 
of  suiiering,  are  stretched  on  attenuated  bunches  of  straw  stufied  in  ragged 
ticks,  and  beside  them  gaunt  children  who  liave  known  no  childhood  and 
whose  fleshless  hmbs  prove  the  privations  they  have  endured.  Mixed  with 
these  are  men  and  women  in  middle  life,  wrecked  by  rum  or  shiftlessness, 
stranded  at  maturity  and  sure  to  be  public  burdens  for  the  remainder  of  tlieir 
lives.  In  the  dens  thus  occupied,  and  in  which  the  occupants  are  constantly 
changing,  are  engendered  the  infectious  diseases  which  are  constantly  tlu'eat- 
ening  the  city,  and  which  are  prevented  from  becoming  epidemics  only  by  the 
constant  exertions  of  the  Board  of  Health. 

Only  a  step  above  these  wretched  lodgers  are  the  poor  who  have  not  yet  utterly 
lost  foothold  in  the  world,  but  manage,  by  the  various  devices  to  which  poverty 
is  so  accustomed,  to  pay  the  pittance  necessary  to  secure  them  in  the  possession 
of  some  squalid  room  which  they  can  call  home.  They  are  found  in  the  leak- 
ing lofts  of  rear  tenements,  where  pure  air  cannot  come  and  water  can  be 
brought  only  in  driblets.  Exposed  in  these  wi'etched  eyries  to  all  the  pri- 
vations of  extreme  poverty  and  the  moral  degradations  of  tenement  life,  they 
comprise  nearly  all  of  that  army  of  pauperism  known  in  the  administration  of 
the  public  charities  as  the  "  outdoor  poor,"  as  they  receive  relief  from  the  pub- 
lic purse  without  becoming  inmates  of  an  eleemosynary  institution.  Tliis  army 
during  1870  comprised  5,541  families,  in  which  were  1,986  adult  males,  5,354 
adult  females,  and  15,442  children,  making  a  total  of  22,782  human  beings. 
Upon  these  wretched  creatures  $123,836.85  was  expended  during  the  year,  and 
every  penny  was  for  the  relief  of  actual  sufiering.  To  New  York  belongs  the 
high  credit  of  being  not  only  a  prodigal  but  a  judicious  and  honest  almoner. 
While  the  administration  of  all  other  departments  of  municipal  affairs  has  been 
charged  with  corruption,  the  depth  of  degradation  which  robs  the  poor  of  the 
money  set  apart  for  their  relief  has  not  been  even  approached.  And  while 
every  dollar  has  been  approj^riated  to  its  legitimate  use,  the  most  careful  re- 
search is  always  had  to  make  sure  tliat  every  penny  is  properly  expended.  In 
the  relief  of  the  outdoor  poor  tliis  researcli  is  exhaustive  in  every  individual 
case,  and  there  is  a  positive  certainty  that  every  cent  has  been  used  for  the  re- 
lief of  absolute  want.  By  means  of  a  Board  of  Visitors,  a  member  of  which 
makes  a  personal  investigation  of  the  condition  of  every  applicant,  the  whole 
is  learned.  No  one  except  a  few  impostors  apply  for  this  relief  until  extremity 
has  been  reached,  and  no  one  receives  it  until  it  has  been  passed.  Tliese 
22,782  persons  tlierefore  are  not  merely  tlie  poor  wanting  some  of  the  comforts 
of  life,  they  are  paupers  needing  all  of  its  necessities. 

It  is  impossible  to  portray  the  terrible  scenes  of  human  suffering  which 
the  visitors  of  the  Commissioners  of  Charities  are  forced  to  encounter  in  the 
discharge  of  their  duties.  As  the  figures  show,  a  male  head  is  found  in  only 
about  one-third  of  the  families,  and  where  he  is  found  is  a  bed-ridden  man,  re- 
duced to  a  skeleton  by  disease  and  want,  and  only  adds  to  the  horrors  of  the 


134  THE  NETHER  SIDE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

scene;  for  around  him,  as  lie  lies  stretched  on  a  bundle  of  sti-aw,  are  his  gaunt 
wife  and  children,  who  in  many  cases  are  too  weak  from  want  of  food  to  move 
"Where  the  father  has  been  carried  to  a  pauper's  grave  before  relief  is  sought, 
the  scene  is  scarcely  less  terrible.  There  are  hundreds  of  cases  where  a  widow 
has  been  found,  on  days  when  the  mercury  was  shrinking  near  zero,  huddling 
with  her  children  around  the  embers  of  a  few  cliips  which  emitted  less  heat 
than  the  flame  of  a  candle.  Emaciated  by  starvation  and  clothed  only  in  a 
few  thin  rags,  the  utmost  exertion  and  most  careful  application  of  restoratives , 
has  often  been  needed  to  rescue  these  sufferers  from  death  by  freezing.  But 
even  without  the  horrors  attendant  upon  a  low  temperature,  these  scenes  are 
sufficiently  suggestive  of  extreme  destitution.  In  the  fervent  heats  of  summer 
these  wretched  women  and  children  have  been  found  so  enfeebled  by  lack  of 
nourishment  that  they  were  helpless  in  the  fetid  atmosphere  that  must  soon 
have  brought  them  the  sure  relief  of  death.  Both  in  winter  and  summer, 
when  there  is  a  male  head  and  when  there  is  none,  the  surroundings  of  these 
families  are  those  of  the  most  abject  poverty.  They  have  yet  a  roof  over  them, 
as  they  have  managed  by  the  sale  of  one  after  another  of  their  articles  of  cloth- 
ing and  household  gorfds  to  pay  the  rent  of  one  squalid  room  thus  far;  but 
when  the  visitor  reaches  them  they  are  sure  to  be  turned  out  on  next  rent  day, 
for  they  have  nothing  left  to  sell.  After  there  is  absolutely  nothing  left,  fami- 
lies have  been  found  in  roomswhich  did  not  contain  a  single  article  of  furni- 
ture, and  some  of  the  members  of  which  were  entirely  naked.  In  other  cases 
there  have  been  a  few  broken  dishes,  a  skillet,  one  or  two  broken  chairs,  and 
perhaps  a  table ;  but  in  almost  every  instance  the  simjilest  conveniences  of  the 
rudest  life  were  lacking. 

This  is  extreme  wretchedness,  but  extreme  as  it  is  and  vast  as  it  is  the  Vis- 
itors of  the  Commissioners  do  not  find  all  of  it,  nor  hardly  the  worst  of  it.  In 
previous  articles  I  have  shown  that  we  have  half  a  million  of  people  crammed 
into  the  deadly  tenements,  and  that  ten  thousand  children  are  constantly  adrift 
in  the  streets.  A  city  of  which  these  startling  things  can  be  said  must  have  a 
vast  pauper  population.  But  while  its  pauperism  is  its  sliame,  tlie  charity  of 
New  York  is  its  glory,  and  covers  a  multitude  of  its  sins.  The  city  lias  one 
hundred  and  five  private  charities  fully  organized,  and  constantly  engaged  in 
succoring  the  distressed.  Such  institutions  as  the  Five  Points  Mission,  the 
Children's  Aid  Society,  the  several  orphan  asylums,  homes  for  the  indigent, 
and  hospitals  for  the  sick,  which  are  mainly  supported  by  private  funds,  are 
aggressive  charities.  They  seek  suffering  instead  of  waiting  for  it  to  seek  them, 
as  almoners  of  public  funds  must  always  do,  and  they  find  a  v:ust  deal  more  of  it. 
Wliile  they  do  not  wait  for  tlie  last  extremity  of  distress  before  extending  re- 
lief, they  discover  cases  of  poverty  as  urgent  as  any  which  have  been  stated, 
and  many  only  a  little  less  abject,  which  never  come  to  the  knowledge  of  the 
pul)lic  functionaries.  In  the  relief  of  such  destitution  as  they  find,  these  pri- 
vate cliarities  expend  more  money  annually  than  is  required  by  the  Commis- 
sioners of  Charities  and  Correction  for  all  the  sick,  destitute,  and  criminals 
coming  into  tlieir  charge.  It  is  tlierefore  apparent  tliat  hardly  half  the  pau- 
perism of  the  city  is  a  matter  of  official  knowledge,  and  the  gaunt  legion  of 
22,782  stai'ving  people  is  but  a  fraction  of  the  army  of  misery  which  tlie  city  can 
muster.  At  least  50,000  more  must  be  added  to  the  rolls,  and  tlien  the  exhibit 
will  not  contain  all  the  human  creatures  who  during  the  last  year  have  in  this 
groat  coninKux'ial  city  been  dei)endent  to  a  greater  or  less  degree  upon  charity 
for  food,  clothing,  or  shelter.     Many  of  these,  it  is  true,  are  temporally  recruits, 


TAUPERISM.  135 

and  need  but  little  relief  to  enable  them  to  become  again  self-sustaining.  But 
the  permanent  pauper  population  is  much  greater  than  should  be  found  in  a 
community  so  yovuig  and  so  rich  as  this.  There  are  scores  of  buildings  scat- 
tered through  the  city,  in  addition  to  the  receptacles  provided  by  the  munici- 
pality, which  are  constantly  filled  with  decrepit  or  disabled  men  and  women, 
or  with  helpless  orphans.  But  for  these  private  charities,  which  are  constantly 
engaged  in  clothing  the  naked,  feeding  the  hungry,  and  housing  the  homeless, 
it  is  difficult  to  imagine  the  condition  to  which  the  city  would  speedily  be  re- 
duced. Public  benevolence  is  always  stinted,  never  seeks  for  its  objects,  and 
aims  only  to  prevent  the  reproach  of  a  death  from  stai-vation  or  exposure  com- 
ing upon  the  community  in  whose  behalf  it  is  exercised.  The  public  charities 
of  New  York  are  liberal,  and  as  wisely  administered  as  it  is  possible  for  a  pub- 
lic trust  to  be  managed ;  but  if  the  city  had  nothing  else  to  depend  upon  for  the 
relief  of  its  pauperism,  it  would  speedily  be  disgraced  by  a  bread  riot. 

These  statements  may  be  considered  reckless  exaggerations  by  those  who 
have  paid  but  little  attention  to  this  subject.  It  is  possible  for  an  observant 
man  to  walk  the  streets  of  the  city  for  weeks  together  and  see  nothing  of  this 
extremity  of  wretchedness  or  of  the  constant  and  extended  efforts  made  for  its 
relief.  Where  he  meets  one  genuine  mendicant  he  will  encounter  five  charla- 
tans of  pauperism ;  aild  nothing  is  more  natural  tluin  that,  classing  all  seekers 
of  alms  as  impostors,  he  should  conclude  there  is  little  real  distress.  The  man, 
however,  who  being  a  householder  spends  his  mornings  at  home,  and  who  is 
called  by  his  vocation  into  the  streets  at  late  hours  of  the  night,  reaches  a  very 
different  conclusion.  During  the  last  summer  pauper  observations  were  thus 
forced  upon  me,  and  I  estimated  probabilities  that  were  appalling  even  to  one 
Avho  knew  something  of  the  ^real  truth.  There  has  been  an  average  of  five 
demands  for  relief  per  day  at  my  house  since  May ;  and  although  some  of  the 
a^jplicants  have  called  more  than  once,  taken  altogether  the  five  applications 
represent  at  least  half  as  many  different  persons.  No  one  of  all  these  claim- 
ants was  an  impostor;  no  one  ever  asked  for  money,  and  none  wanted  clothing. 
In  every  case  it  was  food  that  was  wanted,  and  there  was  no  occasion  when  tlie 
broken  scraps  from  the  table  were  not  eagerly  accepted.  Making  inquiries 
among  my  friends,  I  found  that  mine  was  only  the  common  lot,  and  I  was 
forced  to  conclude  that,  vast  as  are  the  charities  of  New  York,  they  are  not  equal 
to  the  need  of  them.  And  so  the  evidence  obtained  at  my  ai-ea  door  has  been 
strengthened  by  the  experience  of  every  night  when  I  have  been  at  late  hours 
in  the  poorer  quarters  of  the  town.  Nor  do  I  call  as  witnesses  a  single  one  of 
the  hundreds  of  importunate  beggars  avIio,  moth-like,  flutter  about  tlie  flame 
that  consumes  them,  and,  hovering  about  the  doors  of  bar-rooms,  cannot  con- 
ceal the  jiurpose  for  which  they  want  the  money,  which  they  demand  with 
more  of  the  earnestness  of  footpads  than  the  shrinking  sensitiveness  of  mendi- 
cants. But  I  do  call  scores  of  witnesses  from  darkened  doorways,  where  they 
wouch  to  escape  the  rigor  of  the  weather  and  the  police.  They  are  sometimes 
men  or  women,  but  oftener  children.  Coax  them  out  into  the  glare  of  a  street 
lamp,  and  you  will  see  upon  them  the  marks  of  want  in  shrunken  limljs  and 
gaunt  faces,  winch  so  competent  a  judge  as  Mr.  Job  Trotter  declared  could  not 
be  got  up,  like  his  piety,  for  an  occasion.  Take  any  one  of  these  into  the  near- 
est bake-shop,  and  the  reality  of  the  distress  you  have  encountered  is  painfully 
evident.  In  the  later  summer  and  early  autumn  nights  there  is  nothing  more 
sadly  suggestive  of  the  bitter  poverty  prevalent  than  those  of  these  outcasts 
who  strive  to  keep  the  wolf  from  the  door  by  selling  hot  corn      Wearied  with 


13G  THE  XETIIER  SIDE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

the  fi-uitless  toil  of  the  nigrht,  they  can  be  found  after  michaight  sitting  on  the 
steps  of  houses,  or,  utterly  exhausted,  stretched  out  upon  the  stone  steps  fast 
asleep.  They  are  mostly  Italians,  are  all  old  women  or  young  girls,  and 
among  the  latter  are  many  of  those  faces  of  delicate  beauty  cliaracteristic  of 
their  race.  I  have  not  tlie  space  to  give  ir.  detail  all  the  siglits  and  sounds  of 
sorrow  in  the  streets  at  night ;  but  whoever  believes  that  I  have  exaggerated 
the  pauperism  of  the  city  should  see  and  hear  them.  I  have  aimed  to  give 
merely  a  hint  of  what  the  observer  will  find  forced  ujion  him  almost  every- 
where in  iiis  rambles  through  the  city,  as  a  justification  for  statements  that  are 
sufficiently  startling  to  require  evidence  to  support  them. 

Another  and  perliaps  more  sorrowful  pliase  of  human  lielplessness  is  found 
in  the  public  hospitals ;  and  it  is  equally  convincing  proof  of  the  fact  that  New 
York  in  her  youth  is  afiiicted  with  the  disease  of  pauperism  to  an  extent  nor- 
mal only  to  a  city  in  its  decrepitude.  Bellevue  Hospital  at  the  foot  of  East 
Twenty-sixth  street,  and  Charity  Hospital  on  Blackwell's  Island,  which  are  the 
two  great  receptacles  for  the  sick  and  injured  thrown  upon  the  public  authori- 
ties, last  j^ear  received  17,190  patients.  Of  this  army  of  the  helpless,  many 
when  in  health  Avere  self-sustaining,  but  all,  with  a  few  exceptions  among  the 
victims  of  street  accidents,  belonged  to  the  class  that  is  constantly  doing  uncer- 
tain battle  with  the  wolf  at  the  door,  so  that  if  disabled  even  for  a  day  they 
must  receive  charity.  In  this  sense  they  are  paupers  and  to  be  added  to  the 
public  burdens.  Besides  these,  the  hospitals  for  contagious  diseases  received 
during  the  year  6,1  Go,  and  the  Bureau  for  the  Relief  of  Outdoor  Sick  prescribed 
for  16,850  persons,  who  become  paupers  for  the  hour  by  some  simple  sickness 
for  which  they  could  not  provide  the  means  of  relief.  Grouping  now  all  the 
poor  for  a  general  view  of  this  metropolitan  misery,  I  must  add  to  the  list  the 
4,315  permanent  inmates  of  the  public  almshouses,  which  brings  the  startling 
total  of  66,28'^  persons  dependent  during  the  year  upon  the  public  charities. 
To  these  must  be  added  at  least  50,000  succored  by  the  private  agencies,  mak- 
ing a  grand  total  of  116,286  human  beings  who,  in  the  year  1870,  in  this  city  of 
New  York,  were  the  recipients  of  eleemosynai'y  aid.  This  shows  the  poverty 
of  the  city  complete;  but  to  see  its  poverty,  its  improvidence,  and  its  crime 
at  a  glance,  add  to  the  figures  given  the  40,205  who  during  the  year  applied 
for  work  at  the  Labor  Bureau  of  the  Commissioners  of  Charities,  and  the 
71,849  who  became  inmates  of  the  various  prisons  and  reformatories  of  the  city. 
Here  we  are  face  to  face  with  the  fact  that  228,330  out  of  a  population  of  942,- 
292,  or  only  a  small  fra(;tion  less  than  one-quarter  of  the  whole  jiopulation  of  the 
city,  were  dependent  during  the  year,  in  whole  or  in  part,  upon  the  other  three- 
quarters.  It  does  not  detract  from  the  gravity  of  this  exhibit  that  the  greater 
portion  of  these  figures  represent  only  transient  burdens,  and  that  a  smaller 
part  of  them  stand  only  for  idlers,  asking  the  public  charity  to  find  them  work. 
INIaking  more  tlian  due  allowance  for  all  these  facts,  it  is  yet  undeniable  that  a 
fourth  of  tlie  population,  as  criminals,  paupers,  or  idlei's,  Avere public  burdenslong 
enough  to  become  part  of  these  suggestive  statistics.  Nor  is  it  more  encouraging 
to  admit  that  there  has  been  no  material  increase  in  the  pauperism  of  the  city 
during  the  past  six  years.  There  has  been  no  decrease,  on  the  other  hand,  and 
the  statistics  of  successive  years  show  only  that  we  are  to  have  the  poor  always 
with  us. 

There  is  little  space  left  to  state  the  causes  of  tliis  overgrown  pauperism, 
and  it  needs  little.  To  my  mind  two  undeniable  facts  ot  our  social  condition 
are  sufii'-ient  to  account  for  the  whole  of  it:  the  existence  of  one  rum  shop  to 


PAUPERISM.  137 

every  one  hundred  and  twenty-six  of  the  population,  and  the  superabundance 
of  unskilled  labor.  These  are  the  recruiting-sergeants  of  poverty  and  crime, 
whose  success  is  so  marked  that  it  should  receive  more  general  attention  than 
has  been  accorded  it.  A  community  that  herds  half  of  its  population  in  tene- 
ments, that  has  occasion  to  thrust  almost  a  ninth  into  jail  each  year,  that  must 
relieve  the  distress  of  an  eighth,  that  haa  tens  of  thousands  of  idlers  in  its 
midst,  and  that  harbors  such  social  degradation  as  is  typified  by  the  bummers, 
has  problems  before  it  which  cannot  be  too  soon  or  too  carefully  considered 


PROSTITUTION. 


TAKE  the  lowest  type  first,  and  find  it  in  the  middle  of  any  night  by  merely 
sauntering  through  Broadway  from  Grand  to  Fourteenth  street,  or  again 
from  Twenty-tliird  to  Thirtieth  street,  or  in  some  of  the  side  streets.  The  type 
is  the  niglit-walker,  and  gradations  of  the  class  are  almost  as  numei'ous  as  its 
rejiresentatives.  To  meet  the  worst,  Greene,  Wooster,  Houston,  Bleecker,  or 
Amity  streets  must  be  traversed.  There  was  a  time,  and  it  is  not  long  past, 
when  only  the  Fourth  Ward  could  show  the  prowling  prostitute  in  her  most 
abject  degradation,  but  it  is  not  necessary  now  to  get  lost  in  the  tortuous  mazes 
of  the  old  town,  to  find  the  most  repulsive  pliases  of  female  frailty.  The 
Eighth  Ward  has  taken  the  place  of  the  Fourtli,  and  the  stranger  need  only 
turn  three  hundred  feet  out  of  Broadway  anywhere  between  Grand  and  Amity 
streets,  to  encounter  the  most  startling  evidence  of  the  possibility  of  total  de- 
pravity. 

To  see  the  worst,  stand  for  the  hour  before  midnight  on  the  corner  of  Hous- 
ton and  Greene  streets.  In  that  time  a  hundred  women  apparently  will  pass, 
but  the  close  observer  will  notice  that  each  woman  passes  the  spot  on  an  aver- 
age of  about  twice,  so  that  in  fact  there  are  not  more  than  fifty  of  them.  This 
frequency  of  appearance  leads  to  the  supposition  that  they  do  not  go  far,  which 
is  the  fact.  Each  set  of  prostitutes  has  its  metes  and  bounds  laid  down  by  an 
unwritten  code  of  its  own  enactment,  which  is  rarely  violated.  The  set  now 
under  consideration  travels  Houston,  Bleecker,  Wooster,  and  Greene  streets, 
with  occasional  forays  upon  Broadway,  which  is  the  common  property  of  all. 
But  these  poor  fallen  creatures  rarely  go  there  to  put  themselves  in  fruitless 
competition  with  more  attractive  sin.  They  are  poorly  dressed,  have  nothing 
of  beauty  in  form  or  face,  and  are  always  uncouth  or  brazenly  vulgar  in  man- 
ner. They  are  miserably  poor,  herding  in  garrets  or  cellars,  and  are  driven  by 
their  necessities  to  accost  every  stranger  they  meet  with  what  the  silly  law  of 
New  York  calls  "Soliciting  for  the  j)urpose  of  prostitution."  When  a  woman 
ofters  to  sell  her  body  to  a  man  slie  never  saw  liefore,  for  fifty  cents,  she  has 
fiillen  low  indeed,  and  this  ofter  will  be  made  at  least  a  dozen  times  within  the 
hour  to  any  observer  at  the  spot  mentioned,  whose  appearance  does  not  abso- 
lutely forbid  advances. 

Next  stand  for  the  same  period  at  Amity  and  Greene  streets.  As  many 
women  will  ])ass,  and  in  aljout  the  same  ratio  as  to  reappearances.  They  are  a 
shade  better  in  apj^earance  as  to  dress,  and  some  of  them  have  the  faint  rem- 
nants of  former  personal  beauty.  They  are  vulgar  yet,  but  are  a  vast  improve- 
ment on  the  set  first  seen.  All  of  them  Avill  so  look  at  you  as  to  invite  advan- 
ces, but  only  about  one  in  five  will  speak  fii'st.  When  they  do,  it  is  merely  to 
say  "  Good  evening"  or  "  How  are  you,  my  dear,"  instead  of  a  direct  invibi- 
tion  to  go  home  with  them,  which  is  the  first  greeting  of  tlie  other  set.  These 
Amity  street  women  are,  as  a  rule,  better  housed  and  fed  tliaii  th(i  first  set,  as 
tliey  live  in  the  houses  bordering  tlieir  tramping-grouud,  wliich  are  all  well 
built  and  finished.  Some  of  the  women  have  attained  to,  or  more  correctly 
speaking,  have  not  fallen  below  the  prosjierity  of  occupying  a  room  in  one  of 
the.-5e  houses  alone,  and  none  of  tiiem  have  more  than  one  female  room-mate. 
Instead  of  the  rough  pine  furniture  of  Houston  street,  the  rooms  here  are  given 


PROSTITUTION.  139 

an  almost  decent  appearance  by  imitation  oak,  or  else  are  filled  up  with  those 
strainings  for  respectable  adornments  known  as  "  cottage  furniture."  Another 
decided  proof  of  better  condition  is  the  absence  of  the  cooking  stove,  tor  these 
girls  either  board  with  the  "  Madam  "  or  obtain  their  food  at  restaurants.  This 
class,  which  is  thus  better  housed,  better  dressed,  better  behaved,  has  the  mid- 
dle rank,  and  contains  tlie  majority  of  all  Avomen  pljing  their  vocation  in  the 
public  streets.  Although  I  liave  mentioned  only  Amity  and  Greene  streets  as 
a  post  of  observation,  it  can  be  seen  at  many  other  points,  and  notably  so  at 
Twelfth  street  and  University  Place,  which  latter  stately  thoroughfare  has  late- 
ly become  a  chief  tramping-ground  for  abandoned  females. 

There  is  yet  another  gi-ade  of  these  night-walkers,  and  it  can  be  best  seen 
at  Broadway  and  Washington  Place,  or  Bi'oadway  and  Twenty-fourtli  street. 
But  whoever  wishes  to  observe  this  class  must  go  earlier,  as  these  women  have 
nearly  all  retired  from  the  tramp  by  ten  o'clock,  and  can  be  seen  in  greatest 
numbers  onlj-  between  eight  ami  nine  in  winter  or  nine  and  ten  in  summer. 
Almost  without  exception,  they  seem  in  the  faint  light  of*the  sti-eets  to  be 
dressed  with  elegance  and  taste,  to  be  handsome  in  feature  and  form,  and  to 
have  left  in  them  something  of  womanly  reserve  and  modesty.  True,  they  are 
out  in  the  streets  at  unseemly  hours  without  male  escort,  hut  Avalking  quickly 
as  they  do,  without  looking  to  the  riglit  or  the  left,  the  unpractised  observer 
doubts  that  they  belong  to  the  demi-monde,  and  charitably  supposes  that  they 
have  been  compelled  to  leave  the  shelter  of  their  homes  by  sudden  sickness  in 
the  family  or  by  some  equally  urgent  necessity.  If  the  stranger  is  bold  enough 
to  accost  one  of  them,  he  is  even  less  sure  than  before  of  her  character.  She 
does  not  exactly  repel  his  advances,  but  she  does  not  invite  tliem,  and  is  suffi- 
cientlj' adroit  to  assume  a  maidenly  reserve  that  perplexes  while  it  allures  him. 
She  will  not  stop  to  talk  with  him,  but  if  he  walks  beside  her  she  will  converse 
on  ordinary  topics  and  use  language  to  which  no  exceptions  can  be  taken. 
There  is  nothing  essentially  vulgar,  much  less  indelicate,  about  her  words,  de- 
meanor, or  appearance,  and  by  the  time  a  novice  has  walked  a  block  in  her 
company  he  is  in  a  tremor  of  apprehension  that  he  has  committed  the  gTave 
indiscretion  of  speaking  to  a  lady  who  happened  to  be  unprotected,  and  who  is 
luring  him  on  to  be  cowhided  by  her  brother  or  husband.  If  she  succeeds  in 
getting  him  to  her  home  he  finds  it  a  house  of  respectable  exterior  and  fur- 
nished within  with  some  pretensions  to  elegance.  As  there  was  nothing  inde- 
cent about  the  woman  herself,  so  there  is  nothing  bawdyish  about  her  home. 
The  pictures  which  adorn  the  Avails  are  not,  as  in  houses  of  a  loAver  grade,  sug- 
gestive of  the  vile  lives  of  the  inmates ;  the  furniture  is  handsome  and  of  a  kind 
to  give  an  impression  of  a  quiet,  reputable  life.  Under  such  circumstances  as 
these  the  chances  are  that  the  stranger  has  been  lured  to  the  lair  of  a  "bad- 
ger "  and  is  about  to  undergo  the  operation  known  as  the  panel  game. 

As  this  species  of  robbery  must  be  described  somewhere  in  this  volume,  I 
ma)"  as  aa'cII  pause  here  and  have  done  with  the  disagi'eeable  task.  No  kind 
of  theft  is  so  commonly  jiractised,  none  yields  such  large  returns,  nor  is  any  so 
safe  to  the  spoilers  as  this.  Formerly  it  Avas  achieved  by  a  contrivance  by 
wdiich  it  gained  its  name,  but  latterly  it  has  been  much  more  simple  in  its  op- 
eration, as  a  consequence  of  its  more  general  use.  When  thieving  by  prosti- 
tutes first  became  a  distinct  branch  of  criminal  art,  it  was  done  only  by  me- 
chanism speciallj'  prepared  for  the  purpose.  A  Avhole  house,  or  at  least  a  floor 
of  a  house  Avas  hired,  and  one  room  Avas  prejjared  witli  a  secret  door  called  a 
"  panel,"  AA'hich  could  not  be  seen  by  even  the  closest  scrutiny  of  the  walls,  and 


UO  THE  NETHER  SIDE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

which,  opening  into  another  room,  gave  easy  access  to  the  "  badger,"  as  the 
male  confederate  of  the  ijrostitute  is  called.  When  the  woman  had  lured  a 
stranger  to  this  room  she  always  created  a  sense  of  safety  in  his  mind  by  an 
ostentatious  locking  of  all  doors.  She  Avas  always  troubled  with  a  modest  re- 
serve, and  would  proceed  no  further  until  the  lights  had  been  extinguished,  and 
the  victim  rarely  objected  to  a  proceeding  so  manifestly  proper.  When  the 
proper  time  arrived,  of  which  he  could  easily  judge,  the  "badger"  stole  into 
the  I'oom  through  the  secret  door,  which  opened  without  making  the  slightest 
noise,  and  having  rifled  the  clothes  of  the  stranger,  Avhieli  had  been  placed  upon 
a  chair,  of  all  they  contained,  crept  back'to  his  hiding-place  and  closed  the 
panel  behind  him,  without  having  betrayed  his  ijresence  by  the  faintest  sound. 
Having  succeeded  in  efiecting  the  robberj^  it  was  a  matter  of  entire  indiflerence 
to  both  the  badger  and  his  confederate  when  it  was  discovered.  If  the  victim 
found  his  pockets  empty  before  leaving  the  room,  he  might  make  as  much  out- 
cry as  he  chose,  as  it  would  avail  nothing ;  he  had  seen  all  the  doors  locked, 
he  was  sure  no  one  but  the  woman  and  himself  had  been  in  the  room,  and  she, 
while  indignantly  denying  that  he  been  rcjbbed  there,  was  extremely  anxious 
that  her  innocence  should  be  thorouglily  established  by  a  strict  search  of  the 
room,  where,  as  she  Avell  knew,  none  of  the  valuables  Avould  be  found.  Some- 
times this  was  done,  but  more  frequently  the  victim  said  nothing  whatever 
about  his  loss,  either  before  or  after  he  had  parted  with  his  frail  companion. 
His  mouth  was  closed  by  the  disreputable  circumstances  attending  the  rob- 
bery, as  he  was  usually  a  married  man,  and  alwaj^s  one  who  would  submit  to 
any  loss  rather  than  compromise  his  character  by  admitting  that  he  had  been 
in  such  company. 

This  was  the  original  panel  game,  but  it  has  long  been  utterly  obsolete,  and 
in  its  place  devices  have  been  adopted  which  are  equally  effective  and  have 
the  added  advantage  that  they  can  be  used  in  rooms  which  have  not  been  spe- 
cial! j-  prepared  for  the  purpose.  The  most  common  of  these  devices  is  trans- 
I^arent  enough,  but  it  is  none  the  less  successful  for  that  reason.  As  has  been 
hinted,  the  first-class  panel  women  are  the  most  elegant  in  ajipearance  and  coy 
in  demeanor  of  all  who  are  found  on  the  street,  and  tliey  are,  moreover,  capa- 
ble of  selecting  the  pi'oper  kind  of  victim.  They  are  rarely  deceived  in  their 
choice,  so  that  the  men  who  are  picked  up  by  them  in  the  streets  are  almost 
invariably  married,  of  good  repute,  and  with  money  about  them.  A  man  of 
this  kind  falling  in  witli  one  of  these  women,  and  accompanying  her  to  her 
home,  will  sacrifice  anything  to  keep  all  knowledge  of  the  fact  from  his  family 
and  friends.  Hence  he  is  nervous,  and  an  easy  prey  of  the  thieves  from  the 
beginning  of  the  adventure.  When  a  knock  is  heard  at  the  door  the  moment 
it  has  been  locked  behind  him  and  his  companion,  he  is  startled;  when  the 
woman  simulates  the  gi-eatest  terror  and  declares  the  knocker  to  be  her  hus- 
band or  lover,  as  she,may  happen  to  select,  he  is  really  terror-stricken,  and  so 
rushes  about  looking  for  a  way  to  escape  as  to  give  her  an  excuse  to  j^ut  her 
arms  about  him  to  keep  him  still,  while  she  begs  him  for  his  life's  sake  not  to 
make  any  noise.  At  this  moment  the  robbery  is  committed  by  the  woman 
herself,  and  such  is  the  condition  of  the  victim  that  she  is  rarely  detected  in  the 
operation,  although  she  generally  relieves  him  not  only  of  his  wallet,  but  of  his 
watch,  and  any  otlier  valua1)les  he  may  have  about  him.  All  this  time  the 
knocking  has  been  getting  more  i^ereniptorj',  and  at  last  she  thrusts  the  visitor 
imder  the  bed  or  into  a  closet,  and  opens  tlie  door.  Explanations  ensue  be- 
tween her  and  the  knocker,  wliich  tend  to  convince  the  victim  of  his  narrow  es- 


PROSTITUTION.  141 

cape  from  death  at  the  hands  of  a  jealous  rival,  after  which  the  two  go  off  to- 
gether, leaving  the  door  open  and  their  victim  to  go  away  when  his  fancy  may 
dictate.  With  some  variations  in  its  details  this  is  the  way  in  which  the  panel 
game  is  now  worked,  and  it  is  made  to  yield  a  princely  revenue  to  the  opera- 
tors. 

But  the  wi-etched  girls  by  whom  it  is  done  get  only  a  small  fraction  of  its 
products.  The  "  badger  "  always  takes  the  valuables  from  her  the  moment  the 
robbery  is  accomplished,  and  only  returns  her  so  much  as  may  happen  to 
seem  just  to  him :  and  there  is  one  noted  scoundrel  in  the  city  known  as  the 
"  King  Badger,"  of  whom  it  is  known  that  he  pays  several  girls  a  regular  salary 
to  "  work  the  panel "  in  his  interest,  but  makes  no  division  wliatever  of  their 
spoils  with  them.  He  furnishes  them,  however,  with  their  rooms  and  clothing, 
which  his  own  interests  require  to  be  of  the  best  quality,  so  that  none  of  the  un- 
fortunates of  the  streets  are  so  well  housed  or  so  elegantly  dressed  as  tliose  who 
are  in  his  pay,  and  none  are  so  little  coarse  in  language  and  demeanor.  But 
all  the  thievery  brings  no  addition  to  their  fortune,  as  all  these  female  panel 
thieves,  whether  in  the  pay  of  the  King  Badger  or  not,  are  in  their  turn  re- 
morselessly robbed  by  their  male  confederates.  The  chief  excuse  put  forward 
by  the  latter  for  taking  all  the  spoils,  is  that  they  must  give  a  large  proportion 
of  it  to  the  police  captains  to  purchase  immunity.  However  false  this  may  be, 
I  know  that  the  women  really  believe  it,  and  talking  among  themselves,  freely 
mention  the  amount  which  each  panel-house  pays  the  police,  which  is  never,  ac- 
cording to  their  belief,  less  than  fifty  dollars  per  week,  but  in  some  cases  is  treble 
that  sum.  I  have  no  proof  except  the  assertions  of  thieves  that  these  are  facts, 
nor  can  any  other  be  obtained ;  and  I  do  not  therefore  assert  them  to  be  facts, 
and  it  is  urged  in  behalf  of  the  police  that  if  they  were  to  try  their  utmost 
they  could  not  extirpate  a  system  of  robbeiy  which  exists  chiefly  because 
not  one  in  a  hundred  of  its  victims  can  be  induced  to  make  a  complaint  against 
the  thieves,  much  less  to  prosecute  them.  The  excuse  is  plausible,  for  I  can  re- 
member only  one  case  where  a  man  prized  his  money  so  much  above  his  repu- 
tation as  to  press  the  charge  against  his  despoilers  to  a  conviction,  and  he  was 
ruined  by  it.  The  revelations  of  the  trial  caused  him  to  be  deserted  by  his 
family,  expelled  from  his  church,  and  compelled  him  to  leave  the  town  where 
he  had  established  a  j)rosperous  business.  His  experience  is  not  likely  to  i^ro- 
duce  imitators,  and  where  such  results  await  complainants  I  am  loath  to  be- 
lieve that  the  badgers  are  such  fools  as  to  surrender  any  considerable  amount 
of  their  spoils  to  i^olice  cai^tains,  who  are  impotent  to  do  more  than  annoy 
them.  But  it  is  also  true  that  the  captains  can  so  harass  them  as  to  make  it 
a  good  investment  to  give  them  a  very  small  interest  in  the  robberies,  Avhich 
the  sums  mentioned  represent.  While  the  proof  necessary  to  a  conviction  can 
very  rarely  be  obtained  against  any  panel  house,  there  is  always  enough  of 
suspicion  against  all  of  them  to  excuse  their  seizm-e;  nor  can  the  "  badgers,'' 
who  are  everywhere  held  to  be  outlaws,  ever  appeal  to  the  law  or  to  public 
sentiment  to  protect  them  from  these  arrests.  It  may  therefore  be  that  they 
purcliase  toleration  rather  than  be  subjected  to  the  annoyance  and  loss  of  con- 
stant moving  from  house  to  house,  or  of  having  a  policeman  constantly  in  front 
of  their  premises  to  warn  all  strangers  about  to  enter,  of  its  character.  Wliile 
I  more  than  suspect  that  this  has  been  done  in  many  cases,  I  can  assert  noth- 
ing positive  as  to  the  division  of  the  products  of  the  panel  game,  except  that 
the  outcast  women,  who  are  its  chief  operators,  find  only  a  beggarly  fraction 
falls  to  their  share.     In  the  aggregate  these  products  must  be  very  large,  as  the 


Ii2  THE  XETIIER  SIDE  OF  XEAY  YORK. 

couiiiaratively  few  cases  which  are  heard  of  amount  to  tens  of  thousands  of 
dollars  per  annum.  And  all  of  tins  property  is  irrevocably  lost,  for  it  consists 
of  money  an  1  Jewels  which  can  never  be  identified,  even  if  recovered  from 
the  thieves,  which  barely  happens. 

This  phase  of  Xew  York  i^rostitution  is  sufficiently  important  to  justify  the 
space  which  has  been  devoted  to  it,  but  it  is  not  that  which  is  most  prominent 
to  the  ijliilaiithropist  or  to  casual  observers  in  the  pul>lic  streets.  In  all  the 
great  cities  of  the  United  States,  so  far  as  mj'  personal  observation  extends — and 
I  iiave  been  in  all  of  them — the  walking  of  the  streets  after  nightfall  by 
prostitutes  has  become  an  alarming  evil ;  but  New  York  is  entitled,  I  am  afraid, 
to  preeminence  in  this  respect.  Not  only  is  the  city  first  in  the  number  of  its 
street- walkers,  but  nowhere  else  has  the  class  become  so  degraded.  I  have  hinted 
something  of  the  profanity  and  obscenity  of  the  women  who  can  be  found  after 
midnight  in  any  of  the  side  streets,  but  it  is  not  possible  to  describe  in  detail 
the  scenes  which  will  be  forced  upon  tlie  observer  any  night  in  Houston, 
Bleecker,  Amity,  and  Fourth  streets,  as  Avell  as  in  the  lower  Bowery,  Chatham 
street,  and  some  other  east-side  thoroughfjires.  Singly,  in  couples,  or  groups, 
these  girls,  many  of  whom  are  mere  children  and  very  few  of  whom  have 
scarcely  passed  maturity,  plunge  along  the  sidewalks,  accosting  every  man 
they  meet,  or,  stopping  at  the  street  corners,  annoy  all  passers  until  tliej'  are 
driven  away  by  the  police.  Many  of  them  are  under  the  influence  of  liquor, 
and  not  a  night  passes  but  some  of  these  degi'aded  creatures  are  carried  into 
the  station-houses  helplessly  or  furiously  drunk.  Until  -ndthin  the  past  two 
years  I  never  saw  any  of  these  women  drinking  in  jjublic  bar-rooms,  but  now 
it  ha^  become  so  common  that  it  has  ceased  to  be  remarked ;  it  is  true  there 
are  few  of  the  saloons  which  will  serve  them,  but  there  is  always  one  on  each 
route  of  the  tramps  which  will  sell  to  any  one,  and  here  these  poor  painted 
wrecks  of  womanhood  can  be  seen  standing  at  the  bar,  drinking  vile  liquoi's 
luitil  they  have  won  the  beatitude  of  stupefaction,  or  until  they  reel  out  into 
the  streets  indecently  drunk.  If  the  unconsciousnes  of  inebriety  is  ever  a  bless- 
ing, it  is  such  in  the  case  of  these  lost  women,  as  it  permits  them  for  the  time 
to  forget  what  they  are  and  must  be  always.  Often  suftering  for  the  necessa- 
ries of  life,  burdened  almost  without  exception  with  "  lovers "  who  despoil 
tliem  of  the  pittance  they  receive  for  moral  and  physical  death,  harassed  by 
the  police,  shunned  by  their  more  prosperous  sisters  in  sin,  corroded  morally 
and  jihysically  with  the  leprosy  of  their  vice,  no  class  needs  so  much  of  pity, 
none  has  less  of  it,  and  none  is  so  little  aware  that  it  needs  commiseration. 
Calloused  by  crime  which  is  unnatural  and  bestializing,  the  street- walkers  have 
forgotten  that  they  were  ever  undefiled  and  lost  all  desire  to  be  other  than  they  are. 
Kumbering  about  two  thousand,  constantly  infesting  the  public  thoroughfares, 
inoculated  and  inoculating  with  loathsome  diseases,  tliey  are  the  gi-eat  danger 
and  shame  of  civilization  found  in  all  cities,  but  here  more  numerous  more 
dangerous  and  more  shameful  than  anywliere  else  on  the  continent. 

It  has  not  been  from  any  wish  to  pander  to  a  morl^id  desire  for  the  repul- 
sive that  I  have  set  this  t3'pe  of  prostitution  in  the  foreground,  Pali^able  facts 
cannot  l)e  ignored,  and  a  vice  that  is  thus  obtruded  upon  every  passer  through 
the  public  streets  cannot  be  too  soon  or  too  fully  descril^ed;  l^ut  having  pre- 
sented the  facts  in  such  plain  terms  that  they  cannot  be  misunderstood,  I 
gladly  take  leave  of  this  lowest  type  of  metro]>olitan  prostitution.  It  is  hardly 
more  agreeable  to  speak  of  the  next  grade,  which  is  found  in  the  lowest  of 
what  are  known  as  "  parlor  houses."     The  chief  difference  between  the  inmates 


PROSTITUTIOiV.  143 

and  tlie  street-walkers  is  that  the  former  do  not  cruise  the  streets  to  entice 
strangers  to  their  dens.  If  this  is  a  comparative  virtue  it  is  the  only  one  these 
women  can  boast,  as  tliey  are  fully  as  bestial  in  every  other  resiject  as  their 
sisters  of  the  pave.  Tlie  houses  in  which  they  live  and  ply  their  infamous  vo- 
cation are  always  unmistakable  even  to  the  novice.  In  Greene  and  Wooster 
streets  several  blocks  are  almost  wholly  taken  up  by  such  houses,  but  others 
but  little  less  open  and  degraded  can  be  found  in  many  other  quarters  of  the 
city.  In  many  of  these  houses  there  is  a  public  bar ;  in  all  of  them  the  orgies 
are  indecent  to  such  a  degree  that  tliey  cannot  be  described.  Next  above  these 
dens  are  houses  a  shade  more  sufi'erable,  which  attempt  to  hide  their  infamy 
behind  cigar  stores  or  some  otlier  kind  of  shop,  and  are  filled  with  women  who 
do  not  shock  at  the  first  glance.  Above  tlu^se  again  are  houses  Avliich  really 
liave  parlors,  and  in  wliicli  the  women  make  a  pretence  to  decency  in  their 
demeanor  while  in  public.  After  these  come  the  grand  saloons  where  the  evil  is 
painted  in  the  most  alluring  colors.  The  houses  are  of  the  largest  and  state- 
liest, tlie  furniture  the  most  elegant,  the  inmates  beautiful,  accomplished,  cap- 
tivating in  dress  and  manner,  who,  with  woman's  only  priceless  jewel,  would 
adorn  any  circle.  It  is  difiicult  to  persuade  one  who  has  no  personal  knowl- 
edge of  the  matter,  that,  taken  into  tlie  parlors  of  one  of  these  houses  and  meet- 
ing the  inmates  without  a  previous  intimation  of  the  character  of  the  place,  he 
would  believe  himself  in  a  pure,  refined  home.  Yet  such  is  the  fact.  Such 
houses  as  these  can  be  found  in  every  desirable  neighborhood,  and  no  man  can 
be  sure  that  he  has  not  one  of  the  sepulchres  next  door. 

But  the  vice  has  taken  in  New  York  a  more  insidious  if  less  alluring  form 
than  this.  For  some  years  past  a  most  deplorable  change  has  been  going  on 
which  lias  had  the  effect  of  greatly  decreasing  the  number  of  parlor  houses, 
while  houses  of  assignation  have  multiplied  in  the  same  ratio.  The  eftect  has 
been  to  intrude  jirostitution  into  circles  and  places  where  its  presence  is  never 
suspected.  Hundreds  of  houses  are  thus  defiled,  and  the  corroding  vice  creeps 
into  families  of  every  social  grade.  Women  of  high  position  and  culture,  no 
less  than  the  unlettered  shop  girls,  resort  to  the  houses  of  assignation,  which 
are  of  every  grade,  from  the  palaces  in  the  most  aristocratic  quarters  of  the 
city  to  the  frowsy  rooms  in  the  slums.  Many  of  the  frequenters  of  these  houses 
are  married  women,  who  are  driven  by  an  insane  desire  for  display  to  thus  add 
to  a  scanty  income;  others  are  young  girls  led  astray  by  faulty  education,  and 
yet  others  are  driven  by  starvation  to  sell  their  virtue  to  any  casual  buyer. 
Many  of  these  cases  have  come  to  the  kninvledge  of  the  police,  and  there  is 
nothing  which  pleads  so  strongly  against  the  flagrant  injustice  which  has  closed 
the  doors  of  productive  industry  against  women,  as  the  fact  that  when  forced  to 
fall  back  upon  their  own  resources,  so  many  of  them  have  been  compelled  to 
choose  between  prostitution  and  destitution!  But  for  this  fact  the  chief  evil  of 
the  age  could  not  have  become  so  prevalent  as  it  is.  Woman  is  naturally 
chaste,  and  if  those  who  have  fallen  can  be  induced  to  tell  the  cause,  it  will  be 
found  that  at  least  six  in  every  ten  are  forced  by  sheer  necessity  to  become  con- 
firmed prostitutes.  I  do  not  mean  to  say  that  they  will  plead  this  as  the  cause 
of  the  first  lapse  from  virtue,  as  nine  cases  out  of  ten  of  them  will  charge  thtit 
to  their  betrayal  by  men  whom  they  loved.  But  after  that  first  lapse,  and  after 
their  desertion  by  these  men,  they  claim  they  had  no  choice  between  their  way 
of  life  and  death  from  starvation.  The  story  is  told  by  types  of  every  class  of 
prostitutes,  from  the  adroit  adventuress  who  lays  her  snares  in  the  great  hotels, 
to  the  poor  drunken  creature  Avho  tramps  the  streets,  and  there  is  so  little  va- 


141  THE  NETHER  SIDE  OF  J^EW  YORK. 

riiitiou  that  one  will  answer  for  all ;  that  one  was  told  a  few  nights  ago  at  a 
station-house  desk  by  a  young  girl  of  rare  beauty,  who  had  been  taken  from  a 
house  which  had  been  seized  by  the  police.  Having  given  her  name,  age,  and 
birth-place,  she  was  asked  the  usual  question  as  to  her  occupation,  and  an- 
swered, "  I  am  what  men  have  made  me."  Then  she  went  on  speaking  rapidly, 
as  if  to  have  her  revenge  upon  society  l)efore  her  resolution  failed  her : 

"  Sir,  only  a  year  ago  I  was  a  ha])py  innocent  girl  in  my  father's  house  in 
a  town  near  this  city.  I  had  a  lover  everybody  thought  an  honorable  man, 
and  we  were  engaged  to  be  married.  I  adored  him,  father  trusted  him,  all  my 
friends  envied  me  l)ecause  of  him.  Well,  I  was  weak,  he  was  mean,  and  he 
betrayed  me.  After  that  he  deserted  me ;  the  consequences  of  my  sin  after  a 
time  could  not  be  hidden.  Then  my  father  cast  me  oft',  and  all  Avho  had  ever 
known  me  shunned  me.  In  that  town,  sir,  there  was  no  hmnan  being  who 
would  shelter  me  or  give  me  a  criist;  but  he,  mind  j'ou,  was  received  among 
them  all  just  as  before,  except  father.  Of  course  I  had  to  starve  or  come  here. 
I  hadn't  nerve  enough  to  kill  mj'self,  so  I  went  to  the  house  where  you  found 
me  to-night.  That's  a  "  disorderly  house  "  you  say — perhaps  it  is — I  know  it's 
vile  enough,  but  ain't  the  men  you  found  in  it  as  bad  as  the  women?  You 
don't  seem  to  think  so,  for  you've  let  the  men  go  and  we  Avomen  are  to  be 
locked  up.  I'm  young  yet,  sir,  but  I'm  old  enough  to  have  founil  out  that  all 
the  sin  and  shame  of  this  thing  falls  on  us ;  the  men  get  none  of  it,  yet  they 
cause  the  whole  of  it." 

With  some  variations  in  immaterial  details,  I  have  heard  this  story  so  often, 
and  from  women  of  every  type,  that  I  am  convinced  that  they  believe  it  to  be 
the  cause  of  all  the  prostitution  with  which  we  are  cursed.  There  is  the  corrobo- 
rative fact  that  the  majority  of  all  the  public  prostitutes  in  the  city  are  from 
the  country,  and  drift  hither  from  the  towns  and  villages  within  two  hundred 
miles,  when  they  enter  upon  their  career  of  open  shame.  Many  are  from  the 
New  England  States,  as  many  from  New  York  State,  a  few  from  the  other 
IMiddle  and  the  Western  States,  and  the  others  are  produced  by  the  city  itself, 
antl,  as  they  claim,  by  like  causes.  From  ail  I  have  seen  of  the  vice  I  am  con- 
sti'ained  to  believe  that  the  perfid}'  of  men  is  chargeable  with  the  greater  part 
of  it,  and  of  nearly  all  of  that  which  is  most  open  and  bestial.  Tiiere  is  enough 
in  the  mental  and  moral  characteristics  of  these  weak,  thoughtless,  hapless 
women  to  sustain  the  indictments  which  they  present  against  their  betrayers. 
All  prostitution  cannot  of  course  be  thus  explained,  for  there  are  women  who 
have  deliberately  chosen  it,  as  there  are  others  who  have  been  led  astray  by 
love  of  dress  and  other  equally  unworthy  motives.  For  the  first  there  should 
only  be  boundless  pity,  for  the  others  only  measureless  scorn. 

From  the  commencement  of  this  chapter  I  have  AViutten  under  manifold 
difticulties.  I  have  striven  to  present  only  general  fticts  and  to  present  them  so 
that  the  full  measure  of  the  shame  of  the  metropolis  in  this  respect  can  be  seen, 
without  rudely  shocking  the  false  modesty  which  is  so  prevalent.  Of  the  dangers 
wliich  threaten  us  from  this  cause  it  is  hardly  necessary  to  speak  in  a  work  of 
tins  cliaracter,  as  thej'  are  the  same  here  as  in  other  cities  and  not  much  greater 
liere  tiian  elsewhere  in  23i"oportion  to  numbers,  unless  it  is  in  the  corrupting  in- 
fluence of  vice  upon  the  domestic  life.  It  may  be  that  here  the  evil  in  its  covert 
form  is  more  general  in  its  ramifications  through  all  circles  of  society,  and  is 
thus  corroding  where  its  presence  is  not  suspected.  I  believe  such  to  be  the 
case,  and  if  it  is,  the  moral  stamina  of  the  community  is  being  undermined,  and 
it  is  impossible  to  imagine  what  will  b(!  the  debasement  it  will  entail  upon  tiie 


PROSTITUTION^.  145 

next  generation.  It  is  a  terrible  state  of  aii'airs  wlien  the  chastity  of  men  is 
hooted  at  as  an  absurdity,  and  the  virtue  of  women  seeming  to  be  virtuous  is 
suspected ;  yet  such  is  the  condition  of  New  Yorlc.  That  such  things  can  be  as- 
serted and  believed  is  in  itself  a  proof  of  a  profligacy  that  has  become  ominous ; 
that  houses  of  assignation  into  wliich  women  can  steal  from  reputable  homes 
have  gradually  replaced  the  houses  of  prostitution,  is  a  startling  evidence  tliat 
there  is  too  much  foundation  for  these  assertions  and  this  belief.  As  I  look 
iipon  it  in  the  light  of  many  facts  which  are  of  such  character  that  they  cannot 
be  hinted  at,  much  less  mentioned,  the  chief  dangei"  that  threatens  the  city  from 
the  social  evil  does  not  come  from  the  street- walkers,  nor  the  inmates  of  public 
houses  of  prostitution.  These  are  women  known  to  be  unchaste,  who  are  without 
home  ties  and  without  influence  except  to  a  very  limited  extent.  On  the  con- 
trary, those  women  who  are  unsusi^ected  prostitutes  occupy  and  defile  the 
holiest  positions  of  domestic  life,  and  there  is  no  limit  to  the  evil  which  their 
crime  produces.  And  this  form  of  the  plague  is  more  deplorable  because  it  is 
one  Avhich  no  law  can  cure,  although  it  might  be  mitigated  to  some  extent  by 
statutory  remedies. 

But  as  yet  there  has  been  no  attemi^t  to  apply  any  remedy  to  any  form  of 
this  vice.  Chiefly  because  of  a  senseless  delicacj'  the  subject  has  not  been  suf- 
ficientlj'  agitated  to  compel  the  Legislature  to  attend  to  it,  and  the  consequence 
has  been  that  prostitution  has  gone  on  unchecked  until  it  threatens  to  ulcerate 
the  whole  body,  politic.  What  little  demand  has  been  made  for  putting  it  un- 
der legal  restraints,  has  been  for  such  expedients  as  have  been  adopted  in  some 
European  cities  with  a  view  to  ameliorate  the  phj'sical  consequences  of  de- 
bauchery, and  has  been  met  by  the  Pecksuiffian  objection  that  such  Jaws  are 
viler  than  the  vice  they  regulate.  These  cavillers  declare  that  every  man 
should  be  compelled  to  take  the  possible  consequences  of  his  sin,  and  that  to 
lessen  the  chances  of  these  consequences  occurring  is  to  increase  rather  than 
diminish  the  evil.  It  is  useless  to  tell  them  that  prostitution  has  always  ex- 
isted and  always  will  in  every  segregation  of  mankind,  and  there  is  little 
sense  in  attempting  to  ignore  a  thing  that  every  one  knows  to  exist.  Yet  it  has 
been  ignored  by  the  law-makers  of  New  York,  with  the  exception  that  they 
have  declared  that  it  sliall  be  "  unlawful  to  solicit  men  on  tlie  j)ublic  streets 
for  the  purposes  of  prostitution."  No  Legislature  has,  however,  ever  been  in- 
duced to  enact  that  all  houses  of  prostitution  or  assignation  shall  be  licensed 
and  a  register  kept  of  the  inmates  and  frequenters,  although  it  is  evident  such 
a  law  would  materially  decrease  both  the  number  of  houses  and  of  prostitutes. 
There  is  nothing  so  certain  as  that  New  York  must  do  something  to  check  this 
evil,  if  it  does  not  desire  to  be  known  the  world  over  as  a  marvel  of  lechery 
within  the  next  twenty  years,  and  it  is  as  sure  that  while  statutory  restrictions 
may  assist  to  that  end  they  cannot  alone  accom2:>lish  it.  Tlie  moral  character 
of  this  people  needs  to  be  rebuilt  from  the  foundation.  Public  writers  and 
speakers  must  make  unceasing  warfare  upon  this  form  of  iniquity  until  un- 
chastity  in  males  as  well  as  females  is  once  more  an  outrage  upon  the  social 
code.  The  truth  as  to  the  facts  must  be  plainly  told,  and  no  prudish  delicacy 
must  be  allowed  to  prevent  the  adoption,  much  less  the  suggestion  of  the  needed 
remedies.  I  may  be  all  wrong,  but  I  have  always  had  a  foncy  that  when  pro- 
fligate men  are  socially  outlawed,  a  great  deal  will  have  been  done  to  extermi- 
nate profligate  women.  It  would  not,  as  nothing  else  will,  exterminate  prosti- 
tution, but  it  will  do  more  to  mitigate  it  than  anything  else. 

The  full  measure  of  our  danger  from  prostitution  cannot  be  seen  from  the 


U6  THE  NETHER  SIDE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

meagre  statistics  on  the  subject  Avhich  are  attainable.  A  census  of  all  public 
prostitutes  is  taken  each  year  by  the  police,  and  the  last  enumeration  shows 
851  houses  of  prostitution  with  1,223  inmates,  and  113  houses  of  assignation. 
Two  years  before  there  were  over  600  of  these  houses,  and  when  some  one 
complained  to  Mr.  John  A.  Kennedy  during  the  last  of  the  ten  years  that 
he  worthily  filled  the  office  of  Superintendent  of  Police,  that  this  was  too  small 
an  exhibit  to  be  a  true  one,  he  answered  that  if  all  these  houses  were  together 
they  would  line  both  sides  of  Broadway  from  the  Battery  to  Houston  street, 
and  he  thouglit  New  York  ought  not  to  have  more  than  tln'ee  miles  of  houses 
of  ill-fame.  That  is  true,  but  there  is  vastly  more  of  prostitution  than  these 
figures  show,  for  the  reason  that  they  do  not  give  any  of  tliat  covert  class  to 
which  I  have  alluded.  This  class  to  a  large  extent  are  domiciled  in  tenement 
houses  where  two  women  live  together  occupying  a  suite  of  rooms;  but  there 
are  others  who  belong  to  a  higher  social  grade  and  living  unsuspected  as  mem- 
bers of  respectable  families  are  frequent  visitors  to  houses  of  assignation.  It 
is  evident  that  none  of  these  get  into  the  police  statistics.  The  full  measure 
of  our  shame  exceeds  this  showing  as  to  the  number  of  women  who  sell  their 
virtue  in  the  open  market,  at  least  three  times,  and  to  a  far  larger  extent  as  to 
those  who  go  astray  from  less  sordid  but  equally  unworthy  motives.  "What  we 
must  acknowledge  we  have  of  the  vice  is  enough  to  move  us  as  a  community 
from  our  ajjathy  regarding  it;  what  we  have  good  reason  to  dread  that  we 
have  is  enough  to  startle  a  people  more  debauched  and  debased  than  we  have 
yet  become. 


ABORTIONISTS. 


ON  that  night  in  August,  1871,  when  the  "  trunk  mystery"  was  fully  solved 
tlirough  the  exei'tions  of  Inspector  Walling  by  the  arrest  of  Rosenzweig, 
alias  "  Dr.  Ascher,"  a  party  was  assembled  in  front  of  Police  Headquarters  dis- 
cussing the  matter  of  abortions,  which  was  then  uppermost  in  all  minds.  The 
intense  stupidity  of  Rosenzweig  in  packing  the  body  of  his  victim  as  he  did,  so 
that  discovery  w^as  inevitable,  being  mentioned,  one  of  those  present  who  had 
long  been  suspected  of  being  an  abortionist  blurted  out: 

"  Why  didn't  the  cursed  fool  pack  it  in  charcoal,  I  always  do!  "  Seeing  in 
an  instant,  however,  how  liis  remark  could  be  construed,  he  added: 

"  You  know,  of  course,  I  mean  when  I  sliip  subjects." 

But  his  auditors  smiled ;  and  one  was  bold  enough  to  hint,  under  cover  of 
playful  railery,  that  perhaps  the  "  doctor  "  had  told  the  truth,  unwittingly,  not 
only  of  himself  but  of  his  fraternity. 

There  was  something  horrible  in  this  suggestion  of  human  bodies  packed 
like  carrion  in  trunks  or  barrels  and  shipped  on  railroads,  yet  the  revelations 
of  the  BoAvlsby  case  had  shown  that  it  could  be  done,  and  the  thoughtless  re- 
mark of  the  quack  raised  the  presumj)tion  that  it  was  of  frequent  occurrence. 
While  there  are  many  phases  of  nether  life  more  sensational  because  more 
open  to  the  public  view,  there  is  none  moi'e  sickening  than  the  work  of  the 
abortionists,  who  ply  their  infamous  trade  to  a  far  greater  extent  than  is  be- 
lieved by  those  who  have  not  studied  the  matter. 

These  wretches  seem  to  never  lack  patrons,  and  secure  them  chiefly  from 
three  classes  of  females.  The  one  which  is  smallest  in  numbers,  and  perhaps 
the  worst  morally,  is  composed  of  married  women,  who  commit  a  crime  to 
avoid  the  first  duty  of  marriage.  This  crime  is  daily  becoming  of  more  fre- 
quent occurrence,  and  the  desire  to  commit  it  is  so  intense  and  wide-spread 
that  reputable  physicians  are  often  importuned  to  abet  it,  and  wdien  i-efusing,  as 
thej'  invariably  do,  they  are  often  beseeched  to  direct  the  inquirers  to  some  one 
more  pliable.  The  causes  of  the- steady  increase  of  this  oflenee  among  married 
women  are  found  chiefly  in  the  hollowness  of  their  lives.  They  are  too  intent 
upon  frivolities  of  social  life  to  spare  the  time  necessary  for  the  bearing  and 
rearing  of  children,  and  are  eager  to  sacrifice  a  newly-quickened  life  to  avoid 
any  interruption  of  their  giddy  pleasu.res.  There  are  a  few^  of  these  women, 
however,  who  seek  the  aid  of  tiiese  monsters,  who  are  actuated  by  less  unlioly 
motives.  With  some  of  them  it  is  a  hard  choice  between  their  own  life  and 
that  of  the  babes,  as  they  are  unable  for  physical  reasons  to  bear  the  pangs  of 
maternity,  and  others  are  conscientious  in  the  belief  that  they  have  no  right  to 
brmg  human  beings  into  the  world  whom  they  cannot  support  properly ;  and 
therefore  Avhen  such  number  of  children  have  been  born  as  they  think  they  can 
provide  for,  they  crush  all  future  germs  of  life  as  a  matter  of  duty.  Tlie  lax 
morality  of  the  day  has  greatly  increased  this  class,  and  any  observer  can  see 
for  himself  how  frequent  must  be  this  or  some  similar  outrage  upon  nature,  by 
merely  noting  how  few  of  the  couples  of  his  acquaintance  married  during  tlie 
last  ten  years  have  more  than  three  children,  and  how  many  of  them  have  only 
one.  I  am  supposing  these  obsei'vations  to  be  made  among  the  middle  or 
upper  classes  and  I  feel  certain  that  the  result  will  be  that,  taking  couj)les 


148  THE  NETHER  SIDE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

married  five  years,  six  out  of  ten  will  have  only  one  child.  There  is  a  villa- 
nous  notion  abroad  that  few  children  is  a  mark  of  aristocracy,  and  nothing  which 
cannot  be  proved  is  so  certain  as  that  the  innocents  are  slaughtered  by  the 
thousands  every  year,  that  jmrents  may  seem  to  have  the  inipotency  of  long 
establisheil  wealth.  I  am  sj^eaking  of  a  thing  which  imy  reader  can  put  to 
proof  by  merely  looking  about  and  drawing  inferences  which  are  unavoidable. 
Take  a  husband  and  wife  who  are  each  one  of  a  brood  of  eight  or  a  dozen,  and 
both  of  whom  are  young  and  in  vigorous  health;  if  after  a  half  dozen  years  of 
married  life  they  have  but  one  child,  what  must  you  think?  As  there  are  tliou- 
sands  of  such  cases,  is  it  necessary  to  wonder  that  the  trade  of  the  abortionists 
has  increased  so  alarmingly  of  late  years? 

But  the  prevailing  prolligacy  of  the  age  is  perhaps  best  shown  by  the  fact 
that  the  majority  of  the  patrons  of  these  rascals  are  unmarried  women  who 
move  in  respectable  society.  This  is  a  fiict  of  which  I  am  sure  if  the  abor- 
tionists themselves  can  be  believed,  and  there  are  occasionally  cases  which  so 
drag  the  terrible  business  out  into  public  view,  as  to  convince  the  most  skepti- 
cal that  these  vile  practitioners  do  speak  the  truth.  The  most  startling  of  all 
these  instances  was  that  of  Alice  A.  Bowlsbj',  which  l^ecame  the  celebi'ated 
crime  of  1871,  as  the  Nathan  murder  had  been  that  of  the  previous  year.  This 
young  girl  had  always  moved  in  the  most  reputable  cii'cles,  and  had  never  been 
suspected,  even  by  her  most  intimate  friends,  of  any  impropriety.  Yet  she  was 
forced,  in  order  to  be  rid  of  the  consequences  of  her  transgressions,  to  resort  to 
the  man  in  whose  hands  she  died.  Up  to  the  moment  when  the  identity  of  the 
corpse  found  in  the  trunk  at  the  Hudson  River  Railroad  depot  was  established, 
there  was  no  young  woman  of  ftiirer  reputjition;  but  the  revelations  following 
her  death  rolled  away  the  closing  stone  from  a  whited  sepulchre,  so  that  all 
the  world  looked  in  upon  a  mass  of  corruption.  Close  upon  this  case  came 
another,  less  startling  in  its  tragical  features,  but  showing  the  same  profligacy, 
and  the  two  unloosed  tongues  that  could  tell  horrible  tales.  The  consequence 
was  that  more  was  learned  in  a  week  of  the  secrets  of  tlie  abortionists  than  had 
ever  been  known  before.  It  was  found  that  unmarried  women  of  every  social 
rank  went  in  such  numbers  to  these  medical  adventurers,  that  all  who  advertised 
their  business  had  new  patients  constantly  making  applications  for  relief,  mak- 
ing a  frightful  total  per  annum,  the  majority  of  whom  were  Unmarried.  The 
whole  of  this  immorality  could  not  l)e  charged  to  the  metropolis,  as  the  abor- 
tionists declare  one  half  of  their  patrons  to  be  unmistakaljl^'  residents  of  the 
country  or  of  rural  towns,  and  of  those  coming  from  the  city  many  were  girls 
working  in  shops  or  ftxctories,  but  many  were  also  young  women  from  what 
are  called  the  first  circles  of  society.  All  of  these  women  in  their  homes  and 
among  their  associates  were  of  good  repute,  and  it  was  plain  that  women  no 
less  than  men  live  lies.  The  jwison  of  this  immorality  has  entered  every  grade 
of  life,  and  the  same  abortionist  who  chuckled  over  the  huge  fee  he  hadj-e- 
ceived  from  a  young  woman  of  fashion,  laughed  immoderately  at  the  fact  that 
a  wretched  creature  whom  he  called  a  "nigger  wencrh,"  liad  applied  to  him  for 
jn-ofessional  attendance.  And  while  it  is  true  that  nearly  all  the  patrons  of 
these  quacks  come  from  the  ranks  of  reputable  society,  many  prostitutes  also 
ask  their  aid.  These  women  consider  it  no  offence  Avhatever,  and  resort  to 
these  unnatural  means  to  avoid  child-bearing  without  the  least  hesitation  or 
comjiunction.  Some  of  them  have  dont;  it  so  often  that  tlusy  have  learned  the 
art  themselves,  and  swindle  the  abortionists  by  practising  it  upon  themselves. 
It  is  difficult  to  blame  them,  even  upon  moral  grounds,  wlien  it  is  remembered 
what  sort  of  parentage  and  tutelage  their  children  must  have;  there  is  no  sight 


ABORTIONISTS.  149 

in  aU  of  metropolitan  slijime  and  crime  so  sad  as  tliat  of  young  children  in- 
mates of  bi-othels,  and  one  is  almost  forced  to  feel  thankful  for  the  crime  that 
makes  it  of  such  rare  occurrence. 

There  is  extreme  difficulty  in  telling  how  all  these  women  fare  after  they 
get  into  the  dens  of  the  abortionists,  as  the  subject  is  one  of  which  the  whole 
truth  cannot  be  told  without  again  shocking  that  mock  modesty  to  which  I  re- 
ferred in  the  last  chapter.  Several  of  these  pretended  abortionists,  however, 
are  nothing  worse  than  imconscionable  swindlers,  who  profess  to  commit  a 
crime  that  they  have  neither  the  intention  nor  ability  to  perpetrate.  The  worst 
of  these  is  a  fellow  to  whom  large  numbers  of  women  resort,  from  whom  he 
takes  fees,  but  no  one  of  whom  has  he  ever  relieved  or  even  attempted  to  re- 
lieve. If  you  call  this  fellow  an  abortionist  he  is  down  upon  you  with  great 
vigor  as  a  liar,  and  proceeds  to  vindicate  himself  by  proofs  tllat  he  is  only  an 
exceedingly  mean  thief.  When  a  woman  comes  to  him  to  arrest  the  course 
of  nature,  he  demands  his  fee,  receives  it,  professes  to  be  ready  and  willing  to 
do  all  that  is  required  of  him,  and  proceeds  to  beguile  her  with  bread  jjills  or 
some  other  equally  innocuous  deception ;  when  she  returns  after  a  time  to  de- 
monstrate the  inefficacy  of  his  remedy,  he  declares  the  case  one  of  unusual  dif- 
ficulty, demands  another  fee,  which  he  gets,  and  then  sends  her  away  with 
something  equally  harmless.  She  comes,  of  course,  a  third  time,  when  he 
boldly  asks  her  if  she  takes  him  for  a  murderer,  frankly  .avows  the  cheat  he  has 
practised,  and  sneeringly  asks  her  what  she  is  going  to  do  about  it.  She  can 
do  nothing.  She  does  nothing,  and  he  knew  perfectly  well  in  the  outset  that 
her  mouth  never  could  be  opened  to  accuse  him  of  the  fraud.  This  confidence 
game  he  has  played  over  and  over  again  during  the  past  few  years,  and  is  yet 
engaged  in  it,  to  his  own  great  profit  and  the  unutterable  anguish  of  hundreds 
of  women.  I  have  spoken  of  this  one  man  only  because  he  is  the  breeziest  ras- 
cal of  the  gang,  but  he  is  not  without  imitators,  for  there  are  ten  or  twelve  of 
the  professed  abortionists  who  are  only  swindlers.  In  feet  there  are  only  three 
who  are  reall}^  what  they  claim  to  be,  and  Avill  unhesitatingly  jjerform  an  op- 
eration on  which  two  human  lives  depend,  without  the  least  hesitation  and  with 
as  little  qualification  for  the  task.  One  of  them  is  aii  ex-cobbler,  another  kept 
a  lager-bier  saloon,  and  one  was  for  a  few  days  porter  for  a  physician,  but 
neither  of  them  has  the  slightest  knowledge  of  surgery  or  anatomy,  and  all  of 
them  are  ignorant  in  fact  of  everything  but  the  vile  arts  of  knavery.  To  them 
the  other  abortionists  who  advertise  to  "relieve  ladies  without  danger  or 
chance  of  publicity,"  send  their  patients  to  be  operated  upon,  and  divide  Avith 
them  the  spoils.  Of  these  last  there  are  less  than  a  dozen,  making  the  total  of 
professed  abortionists  in  the  city  less  than  twenty,  and  in  making  this  state- 
ment I  am  fully  aware  that  two  hundred  has  been  mentioned  in  the  public 
prints  not  only  as  the  probable  number,  Ijut  once  with  such  positiveuess  as  to 
seem  that  it  was  the  result  of  an  actual  count. 

While  my  number  seems  small  in  comparison  with  the  mischief  done,  I  yet 
have  enough  of  these  vultures  to  do  all  the  preying  upon  human  life  and  mo- 
rality which  I  have  charged  to  their  account.  Each  has  hundreds  of  patients, 
and  it  is  fortunate  for  life  that  so  many  of  them  lack  the  ner've  to  execute  as 
they  promise.  If  this  were  not  so  the  community  would  soon  cease  to  be 
startled  with  such  aff"airs  as  the  Bowlsby  ease,  because  of  their  frequencj'.  As 
it  is,  women  are  wasted  away  by  noxious  drugs  into  premature  graves,  l)ut 
their  exit  from  the  world  is  commonplace,  and  does  not  attract  attention  tothoin 
or  to  their  slayers.  j\tuch  has  been  said  of  the  low  standard  of  pliysieal  he;iltl» 
among'  American  women  in  cities,  and  it  has  been  charged  to  faults  of  dress 


150  THE  NETHER  SIDE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

and  habits  of  life,  to  which  it  is  mostty  due,  but  of  late  years  the  advertise- 
ments of  these  abortionists  of  "Portuguese  Female  Pills,"  "Infallible  French 
Pills,'"  and  other  nostrums  wiiich  "will  remove  any  obstruction  witli  perfect 
safety  and  certainty,"  have  had  a  vast  deal  to  do  with  undermining  the  health 
of  women.  Many  of  these  "  remedies  "  are  in  the  highest  degree  hurtful  to  the 
liuman  organism,  and  all  of  them  are  certain  sooner  or  later  to  make  a  physi- 
cal wreck  of  those  who  use  them.  Yet  thousands  who  would  shrink  in  liorror 
from  a  personal  visit  to  an  abortionist,  send  for  these  "remedies,"  and  use 
them,  and  it  is  because  of  this  fact  that  these  professed  abortionists  are  so  dan- 
gerous although  so  few  in  number.  Picking  up  the  last  number  of  a  journal 
which  they  patronize,  I  casually  light  uj)on  the  advertisements  of  Madam  Res- 
tell,  Fifty-second  street  and  Fifth  avenue;  H.  D.  Grindle,  120  West  Twentieth 
street;  Dr.  Bott,  60  Bond  street;  Dr.  Franklin  (late  of  Prussia),  161  Bleecker 
sti'eet;  and  a  rural  rascal  who  calls  himself  C.  H.  Chester,  M.  D,,  Lock  Box 
4,  Reading,  Pa.,  who  advertises  "  an  entirely  harmless  preparation,  which  may 
be  apjilied  by  any  female,  and  will  remove  any  disorder  in  four  hours."  He  is 
no  worse,  however,  although  more  verbose  than  the  others,  none  of  whom  are 
so  vague  in  the  declarations  that  their  purposes  can  be  mistaken.  Those  men- 
tioned, although  all  who  happened  to  make  annoiincements  of  their  liideous 
trade  in  the  number  of  the  journal  I  consulted,  are  by  no  means  all  who  adver- 
tise. There  appears  to  be  more  of  them  than  there  really  is,  because  of  tlie 
fact  that  some  of  them  advertise  under  several  different  names,  no  one  of  which 
is  the  real  one.  Take  as  examples  "  Dr."  Franklin,  whose  real  name  is  Jaco- 
by,  the  man  Rosenzweig,  Avho  now,  happily  for  mankind,  is  in  Auburn  prison, 
whose  professional  title  was  "Dr."  Ascher,  and  Thomas  Lookup  who  is  keep- 
ing Rosenzweig  company,  and  who  was  most  known  in  his  trade — I  cannot  call 
it  profession — as  "Dr."  Evans. 

In  order  that  I  may  sIioav  how  few  in  fact  are  the  aboitiouists  who  profess 
to  be  such,  while  many  of  them  are  not,  I  mention  in  addition  to  tliose  named 
all  who  advertise.  Foremost  among  them  is  Dr.  Mauriceau,  now  or  lately  of 
129  Liberty  street,  wiio  is  the  proiwietor  of  tlie  infamous  Portuguese  Female 
Pills,  and  whose  real  name  is  said  to  be  Lonian ;  Dr.  Selden,  241  Bleecker  street, 
who  proclaims  himself  the  best  physician  for  ladies  in  trouble,  and  adds  "that 
tliousands  are  relieved  Avithout  accident;"  Mme.  Van  Buskirk,  whose  real 
name  is  Gilford,  noted  as  one  of  the  boldest  and  worst  of  her  tribe,  and 
whose  den  in  St.  Mark's  Place,  has  long  been  known  as  one  of  the  most 
•  infamous  places  in  the  metropolis;  Mme.  Maxwell,  a  pupil  of  Van  Bus- 
kirk, publicly  declares  that  she  does  not  humbug  ladies  with  medicine,  and 
Mme.  Worcester,  anotlier  of  these  pupils,  has  or  had  a  den  in  Charles  street  for 
the  reception  of  the  victims  of  all  the  operators.  All  of  these  peo])le  liave  be- 
come recikless  by  long  immunity,  and  notwitlistanding  the  fact  that  during  tiie 
year  1871  Wolf,  Lookuj),  Rosenzweig,  and  Mme.  Burns,  were  convicted  of  the 
crime  of  abortion  and  sent  to  State  Prison,  they  yet  continue  to  advei'tise  their 
business,  and  what  is  worse,  to  do  it.  There  is  little  circumspection  needed  in 
making  the  first  advances  to  any  of  them.  If  a  woman  enters  and  inquires  as 
to  tli(;ir  ability  and  willingness  to  remove  a  jjliysical  difliculty,  they  are  in- 
stantly assured  of  botii  with  great  volubility  and  distinctness.  In  nearly  all 
cases  tlie  ollices  of  tiiese  ])ractitioners  are  easily  accessible  to  the  public  and  are 
well  app(Mnt(;d.  Their  incomes  are  sufficiently  large  to  justify  tliem  in  sur- 
lounding  themselves  with  some  of  the  luxuries  of  life.  The  house  of  Mme. 
Restell,  which  is  in  the  midst  of  the  most  aristocratic  quarter  of  the  city,  is 
one  of  the  most  imposing  of  that  quarter,  and  is  furnished  with  great  siJlendor. 


ABORTIONISTS.  151 

The  house  of  Rosenzweig  when  he  was  seized  by  the  police  was  comfortably 
ajspointed ;  and  when  Mrs.  Burns  was  sought  by  the  officers  of  the  law  she  was 
found  in  her  costly  country  mansion  on  Long  Island,  entertaining  a  company 
of  friends  who  had  no  suspicion  of  her  real  character.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
den  of  Lookup  in  Chatham  street  when  it  was  taken  possession  of  by  tlie  police, 
was  found  to  be  one  of  the  foulest  in  the  city;  but  it  was  soon  discovered  that 
its  condition  was  a  matter  of  choice  rather  than  necessity.  He  had  a  splendid 
farm  worth  $100,000  on  Long  Island,  and  his  receipts  had  been  so  large  that 
he  had  expended  81,000  per  Aveek  in  advertising  under  his  several  aliases  of 
"Old  Dr.  Ward,"  "Dr.  Elliott,"  "Dr.  Thompson,"  "Dr.  Powers,"  and  "Dr. 
Evans." 

Generally  those  of  these  people  who  really  do  what  they  profess,  have  two 
places,  as  Rosenzweig,  who  lived  in  Second  Avenue  had  his  ofiice  in  Amity 
Place,  as  the  upper  block  of  Laurens  streets,  now  dignified  as  South  Fifth  Avenue, 
was  called.  In  the  office  the  operation  is  performed,  and  the  victim  is  then 
sent  to  another  place  to  await  the  consummation,  which  is  generally  some  house 
that  several  use  in  common  for  that  purpose ;  but  Rosenzweig  appears  to  have 
used  his  private  residence  as  his  hospital,  for  he  sent  Alice  Bowlsbv  there  to  die, 
and  by  her  death  to  rouse  the  community  momentarily  to  a  sense  of  the  horrors 
in  its  midst.  But,  by  better  luck  or  because  of  greater  skill  in  making  away  with 
the  bodies,  such  cases  rarely  happen.  I  have  often  wondered  what  the  abor- 
tionists do  with  their  adult  dead,  for  these  butchers  must  have  many  everv 
year,  and  being  unable  to  obtain  burial  jjermits  they  must  get  rid  of  them  clan- 
destinely in  some  way.  Some  of  them  may  be  shipped  to  confederates  in  other 
cities  as  freiglit,  some  may  be  taken  beyond  the  city  limits  in  boxes  or  barrels 
and  buried  at  night  in  the  fields,  and  other  may  be  put  under  ground  in  the 
cellars  or  yards  of  the  houses  where  they  die.  Certainly  the  large  number  of 
young  women  who  eveiy  year  are  "missing"  and  of  whom  no  trace  is  ever 
afterward  found,  combined  with  the  proved  practices  of  the  abortionists,  is 
enough  to  suggest  the  most  frightful  possibilities.  What  these  monsters  do 
with  their  infant  victims  is  not  matter  of  conjecture,  for  it  is  perfectly  well 
known  that  the  slaughtered  innocents  are  buried  in  the  yards  or  cellars,  or, 
carried  out  wrapped  in  an  old  piece  of  cloth,  are  cast  into  the  rivers  or  drop- 
ped in  the  streets ;  there  is  not  a  day  that  the  finding  of  the  bodies  of  still-born 
children  is  not  reported  lo  Police  Headquarters,  and  they  are  always  found  un- 
der such  circumstances  as  to  make  the  detection  of  their  murderers  impossible. 
Many  bodies  of  course  are  never  found  at  all,  and  those  which  are  picked  up 
are  useless  to  fully  unveil  the  horrors  which  they  prove  must  exist  in  the  midst 
of  this  great  centre  of  modern  civilization  which  nurtures  a  worse  than  Herod. 
Another,  and  in  comparison  with  those  which  have  been  treated,  a  pleas- 
anter  phase  of  the  abortion  business,  is  pi'esented  in  such  advertisements  as  that 
of  Madam  Grindle,  who.has  openly  notified  the  world  that  she  has  "  jileasant 
rooms  for  nursing,"  by  which  she  means  that  she  has  an  asylum  for  outlawed 
motherhood  and  for  children  who  come  unhallowed  into  life.  A  visit  to  the 
establishment  of  Madam  Grindle  showed  it  to  be  of  large  capacity  and  elegant 
appointments,  in  which  women  about  to  become  mothers  under  such  circiim- 
stances  that  they  dared  not  for  their  reputation's  sake  let  the  fact  become 
known,  could  be  ti'eated  during  the  crisis,  and  that  over,  after  paying  a  lai'gR 
bill,  could  go  their  ways  and  leave  their  oft'spring  behind  them  to  be  "adopted 
out"  by  the  Madam,  or  to  take  such  other  pot-luck  with  the  world  as  might 
befall  them.  It  is  something  to  the  credit  of  us  all  tliat  the  women  wlio  rpsort 
to  such  places  as  this,  of  which  there  are  several  in  the  city,  do  not  seek  to  have 


152  THE  NETHER  SIDE  OF  XEW  YORK. 

their  children  ninrderod  outright — not  much  certainly,  but  still  it  is  something 
to  be  put  to  tlie  credit  of  poor,  frail  human  nature,  and  counted  for  wliat  it  is 
wortli.  Tliis  ]\Iadain  Grindlo  is  reported  to  have  lately  said  to  a  repoiter  who 
pretended  to  seek  her  services :  "Weliave  had  hundreds  of  them.  Poor  un- 
fortunnte  -women!  How  little  t]\e  world  knows  how  to  appreciate  their  trials! 
We  tliink  it  our  mission  to  take  them  and  save  them — a  nol)le  work  it  is,  too. 
But  for  some  friendly  hand  like  ours,  how  many,  manj'  blasted  homes,  scnn- 
dalized  churches,  and  disorganized  social  ciniles  there  would  be.  Why.  my 
dear  friends,  you  have  no  idea  of  the  class  of  people  that  come  to  us.  We  have 
had  all  sorts  of  politicians  bring  some  of  the  first  women  in  the  land  here. 
Many,  very  many  aristocratic  married  women  come  here,  or  we  attend  them 
in  private  houses."  "  What  are  your  charges,  JNIadam  ?  "  "  Three  hundred 
dollars  cover  all  expenses,  and  we  see  the  patient  tlu'ough — unless  it  occupies 
mor(;  than  a  week.  Then  we  charge  an  extra  medical  fee  and  board~money." 
"What  about  the  child?"  "Well,  we  adopt  it  out  in  good  hands.  One  hun- 
di-ed  dollars  extra  is  our  fee  for  that." 

^Vhether  this  be  a  correct  version  of  the  interview  or  not  is  immaterial,  as 
this  woman,  or  some  one  else  engaged  in  like  business,  has  often  enough  Siiid 
something  substantially  the  same.  And  there  can  be  no  doubt  tliat  vt^ry  much 
of  what  all  these  traliickers  in  life  and  virtue  promise,  is  never  performed.  In 
some  cases,  doubtless,  the  infants  are  adopted  out,  but  even  in  such  cases  no 
care  whatever  is  taken  to  procure  them  proper  homes.  The  great  anxiety  is 
to  get  rid  of  them,  and  latterly  it  has  become  the  custom  to  throw  them  into 
the  receiving  basket  of  the  Foundling  Asylum  as  the  qinekestand  easiest  mctli- 
od  of  attaining  that  end.  Before  the  establishment  of  that  charity  the  unfortu- 
nate innocents  were  dropped  in  tlie  streets,  to  be  picked  uj)  b}^  the  police  and 
handed  over  to  the  Commissioners  of  Charities,  to  die  in  the  hospital  on  Black- 
well's  Island,  as  ninety  per  cent,  of  them  speedily  did.  I  have  mentioned  the 
number  of  these  castaways  foimd  by  the  police  and  received  by  the  Foundling 
Hospital,  in  the  chaiDter  on  outcast  children,  and  it  is  not  necessary  to  repeat 
the  statistics.  Suggestive  as  they  are,  they  but  faintly  tell  the  dreadful  story 
of  the  terriljle  waste,  in  this  city,  of  life  and  moralit}'  by  means  of  its  abortion- 
ists. 

In  this  chapter  and  the  previous  one  I  have  hastily  dealt  with  incidents  of 
our  social  life  which  are  so  foul  that  they  cannot  be  handled  eflectively.  I 
have  endeavored  to  speak  as  plainly  as  possible,  in  order  that  there  may  be  no 
mistake  as  to  the  facts.  New  York  has  nothing  like  the  numb(!r  of  public  pros- 
titut(!s  acc^redited  to  it,  lint  it  has  more  than  enough  for  its  saf(!ty ;  the  city  has 
less  than  a  tenth  of  the  professional  abortionists  assigned  it,  but  it  has  enough 
to  be.stialize  all  the  women  in  the  world.  I  have  shown  how  Aveak  the  law 
lias  always  been,  and  is  yet,  in  handling  the  vice  of  pi'ostitution,  and  it  is  as 
silly  in  regard  to  abortionists.  Clothed  in  such  vague  terms  that  it  is  almost 
impossible  to  secure  a  conviction  f<n"  the  oflence,  itjxn-mits  a  maximum  punish- 
mcMit  of  only  seven  years  in  State  jM'ison,  when  the  ollence  is  proven.  As  an 
illustration  of  the  absurdity  of  the  law,  I  must  again  cite  the  case  of  Alice 
Bowlsby.  The  details  of  tlie  case,  as  they  were  published  in  the  news])apers, 
were  such  as  to  horrify  and  scandalize  the  public;  tiie  aftair  in  all  its  incidents 
was  one  of  tiie  most  atrocious  crimes  ever  developed,  yet  Rosenzweig  could 
only  l)e  a\\ard(;d  seven  years  in  State  jirison.  To  accomplish  even  this  the  law 
was  terribly  strained,  and  liosenzweig  was  convicted  more  by  prejudice  than 
proof.  There  was  no  doubt  in  any  reasonable  mind  of  his  guilt,  but  the  unrea- 
sonable law  had  very  grave  iloubts.     The  proof  was  clear  that  tiie  young  girl 


ABORTIONISTS.  153 

had  died  from  the  effects  of  an  abortion,  and  it  was  equally  clear  that  the  trunk 
containing  her  dead  body  was  removed  from  the  house  of  Rosenzweig.  ThiH 
was  enough  to  remove  any  moral  doubt,  but  the  legal  doubts  yet  wanted  to  be 
shown  when,  where,  and  how  tlie  accused  ever  met  the  deceased  during  her 
life;  and  under  the  ordinary  I'ules  of  evidence  these  doubts  were  entitled  to  be 
satisfied.  Legally,  I  am  convinced  that  gross  injustice  was  done  Rosenzvveig 
by  his  conviction  on  the  evidence  in  his  case,  which,  however,  was  much  more 
direct  and  positive  than  in  the  case  of  any  other  abortionist  convicted  dui'ing 
the  past  year,  except  in  the  case  of  Mrs.  Burns,  in  which  the  jury  had  the  ante- 
•moriem  statement  of  the  deceased  that  the  prisoner  had  operated  upon  her. 
The  lameness  of  the  law  has  been  felt  and  acknowledged  of  late  by  the  author- 
ities, and  at  the  last  session  of  the  Legislature  of  New  York,  an  amendment 
to  the  law  was  passed  by  which  the  judges  are  given  a.  discretionary  power  in 
the  infliction  of  punishment,  even  to  confinement  for  life.  The  definition  of 
the  offence  has  also  been  so  altered  as  to  make  it  more  easy  of  proof,  and  the 
new  law  is  in  every  way  a  vast  improvement  upon  the  clumsy  statute  formerly 
in  force.  But  even  this  amendment  does  not  go  for  enough  and  make  an 
outlaw  of  every  man  and  woman  who  advertises  his  or  her  Avillingness  and 
ability  to  violate  nature. 

But  while  statutorj^  enactments  of  the  right  kind  would  do  much  to  lessen 
this  evil,  it  can  be  eradicated  only  by  moral  agencies,  if  at  all.  In  the  chapter 
on  prostitution  I  have  stated  what  I  believe  to  be  the  only  remedy  for  that  evil, 
and  the  same  remedy  will  deprive  the  abortionists  of  the  majority  of  their  vic- 
tims. Both  these  evils  are  based  on  the  licentiousness  of  the  people,  and  what- 
ever decreases  that  will  lessen  Ijoth.  When,  in  plain  language,  the  social  code 
dishonors  a  man  for  seducing  a  woman  as  it  dishonors  a  woman  for  being  se- 
duced, there  will  be  much  grief  among  the  abortionists  and  the  proprietors  of 
such  places  as  lying-in  asylums.  They  would  lose  at  once  nine-tenths  of  all  their 
customers  among  unmarried  females,  and  in  time  lose  them  all.  Then  society 
must  change  its  code  as  to  married  life.  Children  must  be  made  the  brightest 
jewels  in  woman's  crown.  The  high  premiums  wliich  society  gives  for  viola- 
tions of  the  law  of  nature  must  be  withdrawn,  and  the  place  of  honor  given  her 
who  fulfils  her  functions,  and  not  to  her  who  avoids  them  by  the  aid  of  the 
abortionists.  How  tliis  is  to  be  done  may  be  more  difficult  of  statement.  The 
evil  has  become  so  widely  and  deei^ly  seated  that  only  protracted  and  joersistent 
efforts  will  uproot  it.  The  press  and  pulpit  must  make  common  cause  in  its 
extirpation,  but  especially  the  latter.  As  a  first  step  it  is  necessary  to  reform 
what  are  known  as  "  fashionable "  churches,  where  jjreachers  who  are  out- 
rageous burlesques  of  Him  Avho  preached  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount,  mince 
into  tlieir  pulpits  to  smooth  the  primrose  path  to  heaven,  for  hearers  who  are 
satii-es  on  the  Christian  faith.  No  church  at  all  is  better  than  a  church  fiilse  to 
itself;  no  religion  better  than  a  religion  that  condones  offences  against  its  code 
by  its  devotees.  Travellers  have  told  us  of  savages  who  have  as  little  enlight- 
enment as  monkeys,  but  yet,  guided  by  uncorrupted  instincts,  and  nothing  else, 
are  pure  in  their  domestic  lives.  We  had  better  be  such  savages  than  the  vic- 
tims of  a  civilization  that  is  eating  out  our  vitals.  The  time  has  fully  come 
when  we  must  do  something  if  we  would  be  saved,  and  that  something  must 
be  to  restore  purity  to  the  homes  of  the  people,  and,  above  all,  to  the  marriage 
tie.  That  can  never  be  done  so  long  as  foshionable  congi-egations,  led  by  pas- 
tors false  to  their  duty,  foil  doAvn  and  worship)  gold,  and  that  magnified,  instead 
of  "  Christ  and  Him  crucified." 


HAUNTS   OF  VICE. 


PROTRACTED  investigation  is  not  necessary  to  leavn  the  ontline?  of  a  city. 
If  a  casual  observer  should  occuj^y  only  a  few  days  in  acquiring  a  gene- 
ral knowledge  of  the  physical  aspect  of  Xew  York,  he  would  have  .a  large  store 
of  facts,  which,  however  superficial,  would  nevertheless  have  both  interest  and 
value.  If  he  should  begin  his  observations  at  the  point  where  Broadway 
debouches  into  the  Battery,  he  would  first  encounter  those  old,  high-gabled 
houses  which  show  in  their  rigid  fronts  the  stately  and  stable  craftsmansliip  of 
the  seventeenth  century.  But  the  quaint  old  liouses  bear  new  signboards,  wliich 
proclaim  that  they  have  become  the  abodes  of  that  modern  enterprise  wliicli  has 
conquered  time  and  space,  even  to  the  spanning  of  the  great  deep.  Here  the 
casual  runs  upon  the  two  truths,  that  in  business,  as  in  social  life,  "  birds  of  a 
featlier  flock  together,"  and  that  the  ocean  common  carriers  have  congregated 
at  the  foot  of  Broadway. 

The  first  fact  is  thrust  upon  liim  everywhere.  In  New  street.  Broad  street, 
and  i)art  of  Wall  street  is  the  fast  and  feverish  life  of  the  money  centre  of  the 
continent;  Beekman  street  and  Maiden  Lane  remind  us  of  the  ills  that  flesh  is 
heir  to,  by  the  great  drug  houses  that  occupy  them ;  Ferry  and  Spruce  streets 
are  given  up  to  leather;  while  stoves  i^redoniinate  in  Water.  Hardware  manu- 
factories, Avith  the  great  Hoe  press  foundi-y  in  tlie  van,  topple  over  Gold  and 
Clifi',  and  nutliing  of  consequence  can  be  bought  in  William  except  blank  l)ooks 
and  stationer}'.  The  silent  and  grim  cust(jms  warehouses  frown  upon  Stone, 
Marketfield,  and  Bridge ;  Beaver  and  a  part  of  Pearl  have  the  fibry  appearance 
l^roper  to  localities  doing  the  greater  portion  of  the  cotton  business  of  the 
western  world.  Flour  and  ship  chandlery  monopolize  South  street;  clocks 
give  Cortlandt  its  distinctive  character ;  while  Front,  West,  Washington,  and 
Greenwich  have  the  stench  and  stickiness  inseparable  from  wet  groceries. 
Getting  at  last  out  of  the  labyrinths  of  tlie  lower  town,  the  observer  finds  that 
dry  goods  and  kindred  fabrics  occupy  Broadway  and  Church  street,  and  all  the 
intervening  cross  streets  from  Chambers  to  Canal.  Noting  only  these  most 
obtrusive  facts,  and  ignoring  many  specialties  he  sees  wedged  in  here  and 
there,  he  has  gained  a  very  correct  idea  of  the  city  in  its  present  outward  and 
commercial  asi^ect. 

But  having  learned  all  this,  he  knows  the  city  thus  generally  only  as  it  is 
to-day;  and  wandering  among  the  huge  homes  of  a  world-wide  commerce,  the 
oljserver  listens  with  incredulity  to  some  modified  Wouter  Von  Twiller  who  tells 
strange  stories  of  these  localities.  No  city,  with  perhaps  the  single  exception  of 
Cliicago,  ever  experienced  in  the  same  period  of  time  such  vast  and  violent 
changes  as  has  New  York  in  the  past  twenty  years.  The  trade  tliat  had  abun-- 
dance  of  accommodation  in  the  few  blocks  around  South  Ferry  has  absorbed 
the  whole  island  up  to  Canal  street,  and  lias  naturally  driven  a,ll  other  forms  of 
human  action  Ijcfore  it,  so  that  thr  ])riin  dwellings  of  the  last  decade  have  l)eeu 
swept  away  in  comjiany  with  tin;  li.iunls  of  its  ])()verty  and  vic(\  The  mer- 
chant of  llu!  last  generation,  (•((niing  suddenly  upon  the  city  as  it  is  to-da)', 
wouUl  be  p(!rpl(!xe(l;  and  the  pauper,  ruud,  or  i-ullian  who  should  ni>w  seek  his 
old  resorts,  would  find  not  even  a  reminder  of  former  familiars.  Time  works 
no  such  wonders  anywhere  as  in  this  changeful  metropolis,  and  in  many  cases 


HAUNTS  OF  VICE.  155 

it  lias  been  as  sudden  and  complete  as  thonifh  it  were  a  work  of  necromancy. 
Only  a  dozen  years  ago  such  streets  in  the  Fifth  Ward  as  Leonard  and  Frank- 
lin, now  fronted  with  stately  warehouses,  were  wholly  filled  with  dwellings 
which  were  once  occupied  by  respectable  families,  but  many  of  which  in  the  end 
Avere  the  abode  of  gilded  sin  so  notorious  that  the  House  of  Mirrors,  which 
was  one  of  them,  became  known  the  countrj-  over  for  its  unique  si^lendor. 
Even  less  than  a  dozen  years  have  elajjsed  since  the  Eighth  Ward,  which  was  the 
chosen  home  of  middle-class  good  repute,  was  seized  by  shame  and  squalor.  The 
wave  of  change  has  rolled  even  further,  and  in  Bleecker  and  Amity  streets  con- 
verted the  abodes  of  aristocratic  respectability  into  dens  of  the  lowest  vice ;  but 
Avhile  this  has  been  doing,  jNIercer  street,  which  lately  had  an  infamous  noto- 
rict}',  has  been  nearly  reclaimed  by  legitimate  traffic.  There  seems  to  have 
always  been  in  the  city,  between  where  reputable  people  live  and  where  they 
do  business,  a  region  where  only  crime  and  poverty  find  refuge.  This  terri- 
tory has  shifted  with  the  changes  of  the  city,  .and  it  is  my  present  purpose  to  give 
its  present  location  and  appearance,  supplemented  with  facts  picked  up  in  the 
colonies  it  has  planted  in  other  portions  of  the  city. 

There  was  a  time,  which  has  hardly  yet  passed,  when  the  vilest  region  of 
the  metropolis  was  known  the  world  over  as  the  Five  Points.  Located  in  the 
most  depressed  spot  of  the  Sixth  Ward,  and  getting  its  name  from  the  fa(;t  that 
five  tortuous  streets  there  converged  together,  it  once  deserved  its  reputation. 
Only  the  vilest  quarters  of  Jxindon  could  match  it,  and  we  fell  to  describing  it 
over  and  over  again,  as  though  it  was  rather  creditable  to  us  to  have  crowded 
so  much  of  vice  and  squalor  into  so  small  a  space.  Presently  it  became  a  gen- 
erally accepted  fact  that  all  of  outcast  life  which  the  city  contained  was  to  be 
found  in  the  Five  Points,  and  the  delusion  has  continued  to  the  j)resent  day. 
Once  the  worst  locality  in  the  city,  it  years  ago  became  almost  reputable.  A 
sturdy,  practical  Christianity,  getting  hold  of  the  spot,  robbed  it  of  its  distinctive 
features,  and  now  the  Five  Points  Mission  House,  with  other  structures  of 
similar  character,  occupy  the  site  of  the  old  rookeries  that  harbored  the  har- 
lotry, thievery,  and  poverty  by  which  the  spot  was  made  infamous.  But  the 
foot  of  this  reclamation,  which  is  of  such  great  good  cheer  and  excellent 
promise  for  the  future  of  the  city,  does  not  ajopear  to  have  even  yet  become 
known,  and  the  Five  Points  is  yet  constantly  and  exclusively  cited  as  illustrat- 
ing the  worst  aspect  of  the  nether  side  of  New  York;  while  the  Arch  Block, 
which  is  fast  becoming  entitled  to  that  bad  eminence,  is  never  mentioned. 

Life  is  a  most  undesirable  condition  as  seen  in  the  region  bounded  by 
Thom])son,  Sullivan,  Broome,  and  Grand  streets,  with  the  ragged  fringes  of 
the  adjacent  territory.  Like  the  Five  Points  the  ground  is  low.  Unless  it 
is  because  the  dregs  must  settle  to  the  bottom,  I  do  not  know  why  it  is  that  the 
vilest  population  of  great  cities  is  usually  found  in  their  most  dejjressed  areas. 
Certainlj'  there  appears  to  be  something  inimical  to  skulking  crime  and  slothful 
povertj'  in  the  high,  breezy  table-lands  of  towns,  and  successful  search  is  rarely 
made  for  either  on  the  hill-tops.  Whatever  the  exjjlanation  may  be,  the  fiict  is 
beyond  disjmte,  and  has  never  been  more  plainly  proven  than  in  the  Arch 
Block,  a  name  which  is  due  to  an  open  archway  under  the  houses  from  Thomp- 
son to  Sullivan  street,  midway  between  Broome  and  Grand,  which- has  often 
served  thieves  and  brawlers  a  good  turn  in  enabling  them  to  escape  the  pur- 
suing police.  The  Arch  Block  has  always  been  subject  to  miasmatic  odors 
from  natural  causes,  but  these  have  been  multiplied  and  intensified  by  artificial 
means.     The  population  is  dense,  and  as  little  addicted  to  cleanliness  as  godli- 


156  THE  XETIIER  SIDE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

ness.  Tlic  streets,  ■\vliii-li  \iiitil  a  short  time  ago  were  rudely  paved  witli  cobble- 
stones, are  generally  matted  with  the  foulest  garbage,  thrown  from  the  houses 
in  deliance  of  law  and  decenc}'.  The  sidewalks  are  strewn  with  the  decayinf 
refuse  of  green-groeers,  and  the  arm  of  authority  is  so  weak  that  even  in  the 
fetid  days  of  midsummer  the  attempts  to  remove  this  death-jn-oducing  filth  or 
to  prevent  its  accumulation  are  few  and  feeble.  In  winter  huge  heaps  of 
ashes  are  added  to  the  piles  of  kitchen  and  grocer  garbage,  both  intermingled 
with  fouler  filth,  so  that  the  roadways  are  passable  only  to  horses  and  vehicles 
si)ecially  adapted  to  scaling  an  infinite  variety  of  short  ascents;  and  I  can 
comjjare  their  floundering,  when  the  task  is  iindertaken,  to  nothing  but  a  ship 
tossing  in  a  chopped  sea.  In  summer  these  heaps  disappear  only  because  the 
heat  spreads  them  more  evenlj^  and  thickly  over  the  roadwajs,  while  at  the 
same  time  it  liberates  the  noxious  vapors  the  cold  had  imprisoned,  adding  them 
to  the  natural  miasmas  of  the  place ;  so  that  the  atmosphere  during  the  close 
sultriness  of  later  summer  would  enliven  the  undertakers  but  for  the  fact  that 
the  inhabitants  who  breathe  their  last  of  it  are  as  undesirable  customers  in 
death  as  in  life. 

The  houses  enveloped  in  these  rank  odors,  and  crowded  with  a  population 
as  wretched  and  debased  as  New  York  or  any  other  metropolis  can  show,  have 
seen  much  better  days.  Built  many  years  ago,  when  the  city  had  but  little 
crime  or  poverty,  and  originally  designed  for  respectable  middle-class  people, 
hj  whom  they  were  first  occupied,  they  were  once  as  much  a  credit  as  they  are 
now  a  disgrace  to  civilization.  The  majority  of  them  being  on  the  same  2)lan, 
they  are  forcible  examples  of  the  sim^jlicity  of  structure  which  answered  all 
the  needs  of  two  generations  ago.  Few  of  them  have  more  than  three  floors, 
and  many  of  them  not  more  than  two  with  an  attic.  All  of  them  have  the 
first  floor,  which  is  raised  only  one  or  two  steps  above  the  pavement,  divided 
into  a  hallway  and  two  rooms;  and  the  u^jper  floors  are  on  the  same  plan,  ex- 
cept that  half  the  liallwa}',  front  and  rear,  is  jiartitioned  oft' to  make  those  last 
abominations  of  builders  known  as  hall  rooms.  These  houses  will  not  average 
more  than  ten  rooms  each,  but  in  many  of  them  the  ground  floor  has  been 
taken  for  the  petty  trade  of  the  quarter,  leaving  the  average  of  living  rooms 
not  more  than  eight  to  each  house.  These  may  seem  to  be  trivial  facts,  but 
they  become  important  when  the  population  which  these  houses  harbor  is  con- 
sidered. So  also  do  the  other  details  that  these  domiciles,  almost  without  ex- 
ception, are  destitute  of  w'ater  or  gas;  that  they  are  dirty  and  dingy  beyond 
description;  that  many  of  them  have  so  lurched  to  the  southward,  owing  to  the 
settling  of  the  ground  on  Avhich  they  were  built,  that  articles  of  furniture  slide 
from  one  side  of  a  room  to  the  other ;  that  the  stairways  have  fallen  into  decay, 
and  the  floors  are  so  worn  that  they  are  in  many  places  thin  and  insecure.  Paint- 
ers and  glaziers  know  of  no  such  locality  as  tiie  Arch  Block,  because  of  the 
long  lapse  of  time  since  any  of  them  were  called  there  to  exercise  their  arts; 
and  house  carpenters  are  aware  of  these  cruml^ling  structures  only  by  tradi- 
tions transmitted  from  their  ancestors  who  heljied  to  build  them.  Illuminated  at 
night  by  kerosene,  frowsy  and  repulsive  in  the  glaring  light  of  dny,  crowded 
day  and  night  with  jjeople  to  be  described,  the  Arch  Block  presents  the  most 
striking  view  which  can  now  be  obtained  of  the  vice  and  squalor  of  the  great 
city. 

How  vile  a  spot  cian  be  found  in  the  heart  of  a  metropolis,  and  how  bestial 
humanity  can  become,  can  be  best  seen  during  the  early  hours  of  any  hot 
summer  nijrht,  when  Arch   Block  life  is  at  its  windows,  in   the   stx'cets,  or 


HAUNTS  OF  VICE.  157 

* 

lounging  at  the  doors  of  the  groggeries  and  gi-oceries.  Among  all  the  thou- 
sands of  human  beings,  of  whom  nearly  half  are  negroes  and  the  majority  of 
the  remainder  Italians,  there  will  be  hardly  one  cleanly,  pleasant,  humanized 
face.  The  men,  with  few  exceptions,  ai'e  idlers,  brawlers,  tliieves,  or  some- 
thing worse  than  either,  and  the  women  harlots  orsometliing  still  less  reputable. 

Adhering  as  I  have  throughout  this  series  to  facts,  without  attempting  to 
philosopiiize  upon  them,  I  do  not  try  to  explain  why  negro  prostitution  is  viler 
than  tliat  of  any  other  race ;  but  that  such  is  the  fact  no  rambler  through  the 
streets  bordering  the  Arch  Block  can  doubt  for  a  moment.  At  every  step  he 
will  encounter  hideous  women  of  every  shade  of  color,  from  bleached  yellow 
to  the  deepest  black,  who  leer  at  him  with  an  attempted  wantonness  tliat  would 
be  ludicrous  if  not  so  disgusting,  and  wlio,  if  encouraged  by  even  so  much  as  a 
half  glance,  brazenly  make  the  most  unnatural  propositions.  If  the  rambler 
hurries  on  without  response,  he  is  wiser  than  if  he  dalUes  even  for  a  moment 
with  this  extremity  of  sin ;  for  his  refusal  at  the  last  to  accept  the  hideous  pro- 
posals is  sure  to  be  followed  in  his  retreat  by  a  torrent  of  foul  profanity  that 
Avill  make  him  shudder,  however  accustomed  he  may  be  to  indecent  languao-e. 
It  is  only  in  their  fastness,  where  the  police  have  ceased  from  troubling  tliem, 
that  these  negro  prostitutes  are  thus  obtrusive ;  and  one  who  sees  them  only  in 
Broadway  or  adjacent  streets,  which  they  nightly  hunt  for  prey,  would  be  cer- 
tain that  I  have  done  them  gross  injustice. 

It  is  not  only  the  women  in  the  streets  who  seek  to  entice  the  stranger. 
There  are  others  standing  in  the  doorwaj's  or  leaning  out  of  the  windows  who 
begin  their  acquaintance  with  you  by  calling  out,  "  Say,  fellar,  ain't  you 
gwine  to  come  in?"  and  being  answered  with  a  contemptuous  refusal,  pour  out 
obscene  objurgations  which  startle  even  hardened  sinners,  and  which  a  patrol- 
man new  to  the  post  once  said  "  made  his  hair  curl."  I  do  not  wish  to  be 
understood  as  saying  that  these  flagrant  exhibitions  of  indecency  are  habitual 
in  the  locality,  for  I  have  so  often  seen  its  evils  in  a  mitigated  form  that  I  am 
forced  to  believe  that  the  population  is  only  equal  to  them  when  crazed  with 
the  frightful  whiskey  of  the  place,  whieli  they  call  "benzine,"  or  made  savage 
by  a  long-continued  and  extraordinary  run  of  bad  luck  at  the  game  of  policy, 
which  is  their  chief  pursuit  and  sole  amusement.  But  I  do  say  that  any  day 
and  every  day  more  of  total  depravity  can  be  seen  in  and  around  the  Arch 
Block  than  anywhere  else  in  the  city.  It  is  not  alone  that  the  women  are  viler 
than  the  vilest,  but  the  men  are  vicious,  cruel,  and  cowardly.  A  majority  of 
them  being  petty  thieves  or  gamblers,  or  worse  than  either,  dependents  upon 
the  earnings  of  female  prostitution  for  subsistence,  they  are  a  burden  and  a 
danger  not  only  to  the  immediate  vicinity  but  to  the  whole  community.  Stand- 
ing about  the  corners  or  infesting  the  groggeries  of  tlie  block  during  the  day 
and  early  evening,  drinking  and  brawling,  it  is  not  possible  to  say  with  certainty 
where  or  how  the  later  hours  of  the  night  are  siDent.  They  are  of  a  nomadic 
race,  and  prowl  for  prey  in  distant  streets.  They  have  little  I'espect  for  law, 
and  less  for  its  guardians  the  police,  who  have  paced  around  the  block  for 
years  without  doing  anything  to  curb  the  constantly  increasing  wickedness. 
AVhenever,  as  frequently  happens,  an  aft'ray  occurs,  the  assailant  is  arrested  if 
he  can  be  found,  but  the  ware  of  words  nightly  waged  Isetween  conflicting 
gangs  pass  unnoticed.  It  would  be  such  an  innovation  for  a  policeman  to  order 
one  of  these  gangs  to  move  on  or  to  desist  from  insulting  passers  by,  that  the 
occurrence  would  occasion  universal  astonishment,  to  be  followed  by  general 
derision.     The  outcast  men  and  Avomen  who  predominate  in  the  Arch  Block, 


168  THE  NETHER  SIDE  OF  NEW  YOllK. 

making  it  the  moral  cesspool  of  the  meti'opolis,  might  possibly  be  coerced  into 
the  appearance  of  decency  if  the  most  energetic  means  were  used,  but  they 
cannot  be  cr'joled  into  it.  There  seems  to  have  been  a  tacit  understanding 
among  tlie  police  for  some  years  past  that  the  ills  of  the  spot  were  incurable, 
and  there  has  consequently  been  but  littk^  decided  effort  to  apply  aiiy  serious 
remedy.  Therefore  tlie  outcasts  have  gone  on  almost  without  hindrance,  quar- 
relling, fighting,  stealing,  plying  prostitution  without  disguise,  and  only  when 
thej'^  occasionally  broke  out  into  the  more  serious  offences  have  tliey  been  mo- 
lested. Every  great  city  must  have  in  it  somewhere  such  an  ulcer  as  the 
Arch  Block,  and  the  authorities  have  perhaj^s  concluded  that  it  does  no  more 
harm  wliere  it  is  than  it  would  anywhere  else. 

■Wishing  to  obtain  a  closer  view  than  I  liad  ever  liad  of  all  this  shameless 
sin,  I  lately  made  a  night  tour  through  the  segregated  infamies  of  tlie  region, 
in  company  with  a  detective.  By  pretending  to  be  in  search  of  an  imaginary 
thief  the  officer  went  where  he  chose ;  and  I  following  as  the  victim  to  identify 
the  rascal  if  found,  which  of  course  he  never  was,  we  penetrated  with  safety 
dens  we  sliould  not  have  dared  to  enter  if  provided  with  no  better  excuse  than 
curiosity.  First  of  all  we  scrambled  down  eiglit  steps  and  reached  the  "dive," 
in  Gi'and  sti'eet,  of  a  mammoth  African  known  as  Big  Sue.  Tlie  place  Avas  a 
cellar  rather  than  a  basement,  so  far  was  it  below  the  street;  and  opening  the 
door,  we  were  halted  for  a  moment  at  the  threshold  by  an  odor  compounded 
from  an  adjacent  sewei",  the  bodies  of  the  negroes  in  the  room,  and  several 
kerosene  lamps.  The  room  was  scant  six  feet  from  floor  to  ceiling,  the  walls 
were  mildewed,  the  wood-work  unpaiuted  and  crumbling.  The  furniture  was 
in  character  with  its  surroundings.  On  the  floor  was  a  patchwork  made  up  of 
old  remnants  of  ingrain  and  rag  carpets,  the  chairs  were  of  rough  wood,  the 
stove  made  for  cooking  purposes ;  and  faded  calico  hung  from  the  ceiling  divided 
this  repulsive  apartment,  which  was  evidently  the  reception  and  living  room 
combined  in  one,  from  the  dormitories  at  the  rear.  I  had  seen  all  this  indis- 
tinctly in  the  semi-darkness,  and  it  was  not  until  my  eyes  had  become  more 
accustomed  to  the  feeble  light  emitted  by  the  kerosene  lamias,  that  sputtered  so 
viciously  as  to  suggest  the  danger  of  an  immediate  explosion,  that  I  could 
l^lainly  see  the  persons  in  the  "dive  "  besides  "Big  Sue,"  whose  huge  jjrojior- 
tions  blocked  the  doorway ;  but  at  last  I  saw  clearly  enough  that  there  were 
three  women  who  were  full-blooded  negroes,  one  who  was  unmistakably 
Caucasian,  and  three  men,  all  of  the  latter  race.  The  white  woman  was 
seated  alone  in  a  corner  of  tlie  room,  abandoned  to  her  own  reflections,  if  she 
was  capable  of  an}-,  while  the  three  white  men  were  dee2)ly  engaged  in  "chin- 
ning "  with  the  black  women,  as  sucli  creatures  call  the  conversation  of  which 
they  are  capable.  Shutting  out  all  other  views  of  the  white  race  but  tlie  one 
obtained  in  that  room  at  that  moment,  its  superiority  over  the  negro  seemed  a 
philosophic  crotchet  without  a  leg  to  stand  on.  I  must,  however,  do  these 
men  the  justice  to  say  that  they  were  thoroughl}' ashamed,  not  of  their  jwsition, 
but  of  being  discovered  in  it;  and  as  we  stood  near  the  door  talking  to  "Big 
Sue,"  whom  I  could  not  lielp  imagining  to  be  a  huge  turtle  which  was  some- 
how standing  on  its  hind  legs,  they  moved  off  from  the  inky  women  with 
kinky  hair,  and  sought  to  hide  themselves  in  the  distant  corners  where  the  dim 
liglit  was  dimmest.  We  were  in  no  hurry  to  relieve  them  from  their  embar- 
rassment, but  conferred  leisurely  with  the  turtle  concerning  one  apocrj^phal 
Smith  who  hadstoh^n  a  wholh'  imaginary  diamond  pin,  and  of  whom  the  turtle 
declared:  "  Fore  de  Lord,  I  nebber  knowcd  him  ;  I  'dares  to  goodness  I  nebber 


HAUNTS  OF  VICP:.  159 

did."  Being  infoi'med  of  his  personal  appeai-ance,  she  was  "  snali  I  nebber 
seed  him,"  and  was  heartily  glad  he  was  "nnffin  bnt  jjoor  white  trash  anylioAv; 
niggahs  don't  go  totin'  off  things  in  dat  way." 

Satisfied  that  I  had  seen  the  every-niglit  aspect  of  the  "dive,"  and  not  caring 
to  probe  its  shameless  mysteries  further,  I  ended  this  talk  by  giving  a  precon- 
certed signal  to  my  companion,  and  we  ascended  to  the  street,  vis  we  walked 
away  he  boasted  with  professional  satisfaction  of  the  one  virtue  of  "Big  Sue." 
She  was  very  fat,  horribly  ugly,  outrageously  profane  and  obscene,  but  she 
-wouldn't  steal.  He  was  sure  of  that,  for  he  had  never  had  a  complaint  from 
any  of  her  customers,  and,  as  more  satisfactory  proof,  mentioned  that  he  had 
known  her  to  scour  'the  neighborhood  at  one  o'clock  in  the  morning  to  get 
change  for  a  hundred-dollar  bill  given  her  by  a  patron  too  drunk  to  have 
ever  recollected  the  incident,  and,  not  getting  it,  turning  tlie  patron  and  his 
monej'-  over  to  a  patrolman  that  both  might  be  safe.  He  could  not  say  so  much 
for  tlie  women  Sue  harbored,  for  he  had  sometimes  had  "squeals"  on  their 
account  from  men  whom  they  had  lured  into  the  dive ;  but  he  insisted  that  "  Big 
Sue  "  prevented  thievery  in  her  den  to  the  extent  of  her  power. 

Sauntering  on  through  the  slums,  made  doubly  repulsive  by  the  mugginess 
of  the  night,  we  reached  Laurens  street,  which  some  foolisli  Aldermen  thought 
to  make  more  reputable  by  changing  its  name  to  South  Fifth  avenue,  in  which 
undertaking  they  failed  miserably.  Pausing  at  the  lower  end  of  this  street,  my 
guide,  pointing  to  a  row  of  nine  dilapidated  three-story  brick  houses  on  the 
rear  of  the  lots  which  the  widening  of  the  street  had  exposed  to  view  from  the 
sidewalk,  said,  "There's  one  of  the  worst  'dives'  in  New  York."  And  here 
let  me  explain  that  in  detective  parlance  every  foul  place  is  a  "  dive,"  whether 
it  be  a  cellar  or  garret,  or  neither.  Inquiring  for  details  as  to  this  particular 
dive,  I  was  told  the  tenements  contained  a  dense  population  of  white  and  black, 
mixed  together  in  filth  and  wickedness ;  that  thievery  and  harlotrj^  were  the 
chief  pursuits  of  nearly  all  the  inmates,  among  whom  wrangles  and  fights  were 
frequent.  But  he  could  not  give  me  any  special  case  which  would  fitly  illus- 
trate this  outcast  life,  and  declining  the  projjosal  to  enter  one  of  these  houses 
and  see  for  myself  how  indescribable  was  the  condition  of  these  people,  we 
turned  away  and  sought  the  Arch,  only  a  block  distant.  There  is  nothing 
startling  or  peculiar  in  this  open  roadway  under  the  houses,  although  it  has  not 
its  counterpart  anywhere  in  New  York.  At  night,  however,  it  seems  a  peril- 
ous way,  for  it  is  unlighted  from  end  to  end;  and  on  this  night,  as  we  stumbled 
through  it,  I  mentally  rejoiced  that  the  garroting  method  of  robbery  had  been 
extirpated  by  the  energy  and  severity  of  the  authorities.  But  we  met  no  one 
except  a  pair  of  skulking  negroes,  and  half  way  between  the  streets  there  was 
a  sort  of  open  court  dimly  lighted  from  the  lamps  in  the  overhanging  houses, 
and  here  some  children  were  playing  in  the  mud,  Avho  were  half  naked,  and  in 
the  scanty  light  seemed  half  starved.  This  open  court  and  these  houses  distinct 
from  those  facing  the  public  streets  were  new  to  me,  and  I  inquired  as  to  the 
inmates.  "  Rag-pickers,  beggai's,  and  the  like,  miserably  poor,  but  most  of 
them  honest,  and  nearly  all  Germans,"  Avas  the  answer.  But  aside  from  this 
knowledge  of  reputable  poverty,  walled  in  from  the  world  by  vice  and  crime, 
the  journey  through  the  Arch  was  unprofitable.  We  had  entered  from  Thomp- 
son street,  and  as  we  emerged  into  Sullivan  street  the  detective  paused  and 
summed  up  the  i-egion:  "All  around  here  is  about  the  worst  slum  in  New 
York.  Quarrelling,  fighting,  thieving,  and  cutting  are  going  on  all  the  time ; 
but  Ave  get  few  prisoners  here,  as  we  don't  have  any  '  squeals.'     If  a  man  is 


160  THE  XETIIER  SIDE  OF  ^EW  YORK. 

robbed  by  one  of  tliese  women,  he  isn't  very  likely  to  tell  about  it ;  and  these 
people  won't  make  complaints  against  each  other  on  account  of  allVays,  be- 
cause none  of  them  can  atlbrd  to  have  daylight  let  in  on  them.  Negroes 
ahva3'S  use  a  razor  in  tlieir  figlits,  and  it's  a  savage,  silent,  but  not  often  a  deadly 
weajKjn,  the  way  tliiiy  handle  it.  We  don't  have  murders  liere  j^et  very  often, 
but  it's  coming  to  that  fast  enougli,  and  tliere's  plenty  of  dives  about  liere 
wliere  a  man  isn't  sure  of  his  life  for  five  minutes  together.  The  fact  is,  this  is 
getting  to  be  what  the  Five  Points  was.  The  old-clothes  dealers  know  it,  and 
see  how  they  are  turning  all  these  little  six-bj'-nine  cellars  into  shops." 

He  was  right ;  and  the  proof  of  it  was  thrust  upon  us  at  everj^  step  as  we 
walked  around  the  block  and  saw  those  things  which  I  have  before  mentioned, 
and  wliieh  are  too  repulsive  to  be  repeated  in  more  detail.  As  we  walked  away 
toward  the  light  and  purer  life  of  Broadway,  we  saw  the  vileness  from  the  nest 
we  liad  left  behind  overtiowing  into  the  street  up  to  Greene.  Parting  with  my 
companion,  I  made  a  detour  to  the  corner  of  Prince  and  Wooster  sti*eets,  to 
look  in  upon  the  accomplislied  thieves  who  resort  to  the  hotel  there.  In  the 
sliameful  days  when  the  might  of  the  Tammany  Ring  was  unshaken,  this  St. 
Bernard  Hotel  used  to  be  a  pivot  of  political  power.  The  outlaws  who  fn;- 
quent  it  were  adepts  in  the  sort  of  cumulative  voting  known  as  repeating,  which 
was  the  basis  of  Ring  supremacy,  and  they  were  courted  accordingl3\  But  this 
disgraceful  time  being  past,  the  thieves  have  notliing  to  do  but  i^ick  pockets, 
and  have  devoted  themselves  to  their  vocation  with  redoubled  energj'.  When 
I  looked  in  upon  them,  they  were  engaged  as  usual  in  smoking  cigars  and 
drinking  whiskey  or  playing  billiards.  There  were  about  a  dozen  of  tliem, 
who  are  well-known  as  among  the  most  skilful  pickpockets  in  New  York. 
Without  exception  they  were  well  dressed ;  all  had  delicate  hands  with  long 
slender  fingers,  and  none  were  repulsive  in  features  or  manners.  Next  to  a 
co.nfidence  operator,  the  successful  pickpocket  is  always  pleasing  in  appear- 
ance and  address  when  in  public,  and  I  found  them  no  less  so  when  in  the  re- 
tirement of  their  home.  Their  talk  here  certainly  was  flasliy,  but  at  the  same 
time  they  were,  as  they  always  are,  wary  in  their  woi'ds,  and  no  hint  of  their 
accomplished  or  contemi)lated  crimes  could  be  obtained  from  their  conversation. 
They  are  jovially  sociable  among  themselves,  and  spend  their  money  with  as 
little  compunction  as  they  get  it.  Merely  noting  as  T  pass  that  this  house  is  the 
best  known  resort  in  the  city  of  the  better  class  of  thieves,  I  do  not  stop  to  de- 
scribe it  in  detail.  If  any  one  is  cui'ious  to  know  more  of  the  place,  it  is  en- 
tirely safe  to  see  for  himself,  as  these  gentlemanly  mai'auders  never  "take  a 
ti'ick  "  at  home;  so  far,  I  am  informed,  no  robbery  has  ever  been  committed  in 
the  liouse. 

It  is  very  different  in  the  den  of  a  lower  class  of  thieves,  who  are  mostly 
ruffianly  burglars,  in  a  cellar  iit  the  corner  of  the  Bowery  and  Hester  street. 
This  is  a  veritable  "  dive,"  for  it  is  many  stej)S  below  the  street  surf;ice,  and 
nobody  but  an  idiot  would  expect  to  enter  it  and  not  get  robbed.  It  is  always 
fille<l  with  f(dlows  who  do  business  in  a  rude  way  with  crowbars  and  slungshots, 
an<l  who  are  experts  in  nothing  but  slangj'  talk.  Many  of  them  are  convicts, 
and  all  of  them  would  have  that  distinittion  if  the  interests  of  society  were 
conserved.  Uncouth  in  ajjpearance,  demeanor,  and  language,  these  rufirans 
could  never  be  mistaken  for  other  than  what  they  are. 

These  two  resorts  of  thieves  are  fair  samples  of  all  to  be  found  in  the  city, 
of  which  there  are  not  more  than  a  dozen  altogether;  and  taken  singly  or  col- 
lcc:tively,  they  are  by  no  means  the  most  dangerous  dens  to  be  found  in  the 


HAUNTS  OF  VICE.  161 

metropolis.  There  is  a  sporting  house  in  Houston  street,  one  block  east  of 
Broadway,  which  has  long  appeared  to  me  to  be  the  most  demoralizing  place 
to  be  found  in  the  city.  The  resort  of  a  low  class  of  j^rostitutes,  and  of  the 
ruffians  and  idlers  who  support  the  prize  ring,  there  is  nothing  in  the  country 
to  compare  with  it  in  its  malign  influences.  I  have  not  stated  this  feet  without 
proper  investigation,  for  I  have  gone  there  often  enough  to  be  sure  of  its  char- 
acter, and  I  do  not' doubt  that  the  most  general  description  of  it  will  enable  the 
public  to  reach  the  same  conclusion.  Known  the  world  over  in  sporting  circles 
as  Harry  Hill's,  the  house  itself,  which  has  lately  been  enlarged  to  accommodate 
the  increasing  debauchery,  is  of  brick,  two  stories  high,  and  painted  white. 
Over  the  entrance  in  Houston  sti'eet  is  a  huge  ornamental  lamp,  and  beside  the 
door,  where  every  passer  must  see  them,  are  a  dozen  lines  of  doggerel  lettered 
on  a  signboard,  which  invite  to  deep  potations,  and  two  of  which  declare  that 
within  are 

Punches  and  jnleps,  cobblers  and  smashes. 

To  make  the  tongue  waggle  with  wit's  merry  flashes. 

The  bar-room,  with  this  enticing  but  Mse  announcement — for  the  liquor 
there  has  nothing  but  headaches  and  fights  in  it — is  even  with  the  street,  and  is 
too  much  like  scores  of  other  houses  frequented  by  a  low  class  of  topers  and 
idlers  to  need  particular  description.  The  wickedness  of  the  place  is  reached 
by  paying  twenty  cents  at  the  bar,  and  ascending  some  narrow  stairs  at  the 
rear  of  the  groggery.  Gaining  the  floor  above,  the  visitor  finds  himself  in  a 
large  room  with  a  very  low  ceiling,  which  is  furnished  with  numerous  chairs 
and  tables,  a  bar,  and  a  raised  platform  with  some  rude  sceneiy,  which  is  used 
as  an  excuse  for  covering  the  orgies  of  the  den  with  a  theatre  license.  There 
are  many  placards  on  the  walls  which  instantly  remove  any  doubt  a  stranger 
may  have  as  to  the  character  of  the  place.  One  is  a  repetition,  with  the  phrase- 
ology slightly  altered,  of  the  doggerel  at  the  door ;  another  is  a  blasphemous 
justification  of  deep  drinking  by  perverted  quotations  from  the  Bible;  and  oth- 
ers request  "  gentlemen  not  to  smoke  when  dancing  with  the  ladies,"  and  to 
refrain  from  certain  other  acts  equally  impossible  for  any  gentleman  to  com- 
mit. 

There  is  never  a  midnight  when  this  mill  of  vice  and  demoralization,  which 
grinds  not  only  surely,  but  fiist  and  furiously,  is  not  in  full  operation.  Scores 
of  abandoned  women  are  seated  at  the  tables  drinking  deejily  of  the  vile 
liquors  of  the  place,  or  smoking  strong  cigars,  to  which  only  long  experi- 
ence is  equal.  There  are  as  many  men  who  are  doing  the  same  things,  and 
who,  paying  for  all  this  dissipation,  have  and  expect  no  better  recompense  than 
talking  with  these  painted  women  in  the  slang  language  in  which  they  are 
alone  versed.  These  women  are  in  keeping  with  the  place,  for  being  public 
prostitutes,  they  are  social  outcasts ;  but  some  of  the  men  seem  startling  in- 
congruities. While  the  majority  of  the  males  plainly  belong  to  the  vicious 
class,  there  is  never  a  midnight  when  there  are  not  many  actively  engaged  in 
the  debaucheries  who  claim  to  be  and  are  generally  accepted  as  members  of 
reputable  society.  I  do  not  now  refer  to  the  curious  who  visit  the  place  but 
once  or  twice  to  get  a  view  of  its  iniquity,  but  to  those  who  are  seen  so  often 
as  to  be  classed  as  customers,  and  who  receive  the  familiar  greeting  of  estab- 
lished a,cquaintance  from  the  bar-maids.  Among  them  are  men  of  every 
calling,  who  in  their  business  and  domestic  life  are  surrounded  hj  reputable 
influences,  but  who,  sneaking  from  these  with  nightfall,  can  be  found  in  Houstoii 
street  wallowing  in  corruption,  and  eagerly  filling  the  coifers  of  vice  in  ex- 


1G2  THE  XETHER  SIDE  OF  XEW  YORK. 

change  for  moral  and  i^hysical  death.  Every  night  men  can  be  seen  there  who 
were  lately  of  great  ijromise,  and  who  have  been  wrecked  by  its  debanchery? 
but  the  sight  of  them  rarel}*  awakens  pity.  When  men  and  women  voluntarily 
congregate  night  after  night,  in  this  public  manner,  for  the  indulgence  of  bes- 
tial passions,  the  women  are  already  lost  and  the  men  scarcely  worth  saving. 

Outbreaks  of  brutal  violence  are  as  frequent  in  this  place  as  in  others 
which  are  frequently  pounced  upon  by  the  police  as  dangerous  to  the  public 
peace.  Latterly,  I  admit,  these  exlifljitions  have  not  been  so  frequent  nor  ila- 
gi'ant  as  they  were,  but  I  can  recall  several  such  occasions  during  the  past 
few  months  without  trouble.  Only  the  night  before  I  write  this  page,  a  woman 
crazed  with  the  liquor  of  the  den  suddenly  made  an  indiscriminate  attack  upon 
its  occupants ;  but  being  pushed,  pidled,  and  parried  into  the  street,  she  there  had  a 
protracted  fight  with  a  policeman,  all  the  time  screeching  out  obscene  profanity 
in  a  voice  that  mingled  it  with  the  roar  of  Broadway.  At  last,  finding  that  she 
was  being  conquered,  she  threw  herself  ui)on  the  sidewalk,  where  she  kicked 
and  screamed  until,  other  policemen  coming  up,  she  was  picked  up  bodily  and 
carried  off  to  a  station-house  cell.  All  this  had  been  witnessed  by  hundreds 
of  men,  women,  and  children,  and  it  is  hardly  necessary  to  say  to  any  enlight- 
ened reader  that  no  one  was  improved  by  the  incident.  Not  long  ago  there 
was  a  general  fight  in  the  dance-house,  in  which  men  were  gashed  and  women 
had  their  teeth  knocked  out ;  and  fights  of  a  milder  type  are  of  frequent  oc- 
currence. Nobody  has  ever  been  killed  outright  in  any  of  the  orgies  of  the 
place,  and  it  may  be  the  police  are  waiting  for  a  startling  homicide  to  occur 
before  interfering  with  tliis  murder  machine,  erected  under  the  shadow  of  their 
headquartex's,  which  has  heretofore  worked  so  awkwardly  that  it  has  never  ful- 
filled the  purpose  to  which  it  is  natui-ally  adapted. 

A  dance-house  for  prostitutes,  a  resort  for  prize-fighters  and  the  idling  ruf- 
fians who  hang  upon  the  edge  of  the  roped  ring,  a  rendezvous  for  the  vicious 
of  all  classes,  and  a  place  where  the  potations  are  interspersed  with  suggestive 
dancing  and  the  performances  of  the  lowest  type  of  a  "  variety  show,"  this 
Houston  street  den  is  more  of  a  public  peril  than  any  of  those  Broadway  waiter- 
girl  saloons  which  are  again  becoming  numerous  and  dangerous,  and  which 
were  lately  vivified  by  a  descent  upon  them  by  the  police,  when  there  was  a 
gi'eater  straining  at  gnats  and  more  readiness  in  swallowing  camels  than 
the  city  ever  saw  before.  The  raid  ending  as  usual,  the  saloons,  after  being 
closed  one  night,  reopened  with  their  women  in  scantier  costumes  than  ever; 
and  there  are  now,  from  Prince  to  Fourth  street,  a  distance  of  about  a  fifth  of  a 
mile,  seven  of  these  alluring  doorw.iys  to  moral  death,  so  obtrusively  conspic- 
uous that  the  stranger  needs  no  guide  to  find  them.  One  occupies  the  whole 
second  floor  of  a  large  building  near  Bleecker  street,  and  has  its  front  illumina- 
ted at  night  by  hundreds  of  gas  jets;  while  the  others  are  in  basements  equally 
large,  and,  having  their  lights  even  with  the  sidewalks,  are  even  more  conspic- 
uous. In  all  of  them  is  the  fevered  life  of  gilded  vice  that  leads  unto  jierdition. 
There  is  everything  in  the  embellighments  to  please  the  eye  and  stir  the  prurient 
imagination.  There  are  young  girls  with  enough  womanhood  left  in  their  ap- 
pearance to  lure  men  wliose  manhood  has  not  been  utterly  destroyed.  There 
is  liquor  not  so  bad  as  to  disgust  a  cultivated  taste,  and  there  is  music  execrable 
enough  in  the  main,  but  relieved  sometimes  by  a  pure  sopi-ano  voice  almost 
artistically  managed,  or  by  some  more  than  passable  pianoforte  execution, 
which  is  well  worth  hearing.  The  place,  the  wine,  the  women,  tlie  music, 
entice  thousands,  and  hold  hundreds  in  the  corroding  cords  of  vice  gayly  ca- 


HAUNTS  OF  VICE.  163 

parisoned,  long  enough  to  jx-iss  them  on  fully  fitted  for  tlie  pastimes   of  the 
Houston  street  hell  or  the  Arch  Block.     Suppressed  for  a  time  hj  the  rigid  ex- 
ecution of  the   metropolitan   excise   hiw,  which  prohibited  the  sale  of  liquor 
after  midnight,  these  saloons  have  again   become   aggressive.     Without   the 
wine  the  women  palled  even  upon  debauchees,  and  the  saloons  closed  their 
doors  for  want  of  patrons,  leaving  the  metropolis  with  one  terrible  temptation 
the  less.     Now  the  glare  and  glitter  of  sin,  in  the  most  alluring  shape  it  ever 
took  in  public,  have  come  again,  and  with  fRore  power  for  evil  than  ever  before. 
While  the  danger  to  public  morals  from  these  saloons,  which,  seated  in  the 
artery  of  the  city,  are  poisoning  the  whole  body,  is  rapidly  increasing,  what  little 
risk  there  ever  was  from  the  Water  street  slums  is  fast  diminishing.     The  dance- 
houses  and  other  places  of  vile  resort  in  the  Fourth  Ward  were  never  so  enticing 
nor  so  numerous  as  they  have  been  painted,  and,  bad  as  they  might  be,  were  fre- 
quented by  and  debauched  but  a  comparatively  small  jwrtion  of  the  poiralation. 
Strangers,  and  sometimes  citizens,  went  to  them  as  one  of  the  sensations  of  the 
metropolis,  but  always  under  police  protection,  and  therefore  escaped  pollution. 
Their  patrons  were  sailors  on  a  carouse,  or  thieves  and   ruffians  who  would 
have  been  just  as  bad  without  them.     These  resorts  were  undoubtedly  deadly 
in  their  effects,  but  they  swept  off  what  was  past  or  not  worth  the  saving,  and 
never  scattered  the  seeds  of  death  broadcast  to  undermine  the  moral  stamina 
of  a  whole  people  as  do   the  Broadway  saloons  or  the  Houston  street  hell.     I 
have  spoken  of  the  Fourth  Ward  slums  in  the  past  tense,  and  in  so  doing  have 
but  slightly  anticipated  events.     I  made  the  tour  of  the  dance-houses  a  few 
nights  ago,  and  was  highly  delighted  at  finding  them  in  a  comatose  condition. 
The  women  were  few  in  number,  and  apparently  in  most  rotund  condition,  but 
my  more  experienced  companion  pricked  the  bubble  by  the  remark,  "  Bloated, 
that's  all ;  come  and  see  them  in  the  morning  if  you  don't  believe  me.J'     But  I 
was  willing  to  take  his  word,  and  decidedly  averse  to  visiting  the  dives  a  sec- 
ond time.     They  were,  without  exception,  perfectly  ghastly  in  their  loneliness. 
Half  a  dozen  large  coarse  women,  soggy  with  rum,  and  dressed  so  as  to  ex- 
pose the  largest  permissible  jwrtions  of  their  rej^ulsive  persons,  moving  lazily 
over  the  sanded  floor  of  a  room  which  had  no  other  occupants  except  three  or 
four  ruffians  stretched  half  asleep  on  the  rude  benches,  and  the  two  fellows 
who  scraped  untuned  violins  in  the  corner,  was  the  most  depressing  depravity 
I  ever  witnessed.     When  my  detective  guide  told  me  that  this  has  come  to  be 
the  usual  aspect  of  the  Water  street  dives,  I  was  convinced  he  was  telling  the 
truth,  and  that  this  particular  wickedness  is  happily  in  the  last  stages  of  a  rapid 
decline.     The  dens  in  Greenwich  and  other  water-side  streets  ai"e  almost  in  the 
same  condition. 

In  the  briefest  terms  I  have  endeavored  to  sketch  the  plague  spots  of  the 
city  as  they  are  in  the  present.  Some  of  them,  as  the  Arch  Block,  are  be3-ond 
the  surgery  of  the  law.  Every  vast  city  must  have  a  vile  population,  and  it 
will  herd  together.  But  other  of  these  evils  could  and  should  be  eradicated. 
The  law  as  it  is,  and  executed  as  it  could  be,  is  amply  able  to  root  out  such 
things  as  the  house  in  Houston  street  and  the  Broadway  saloons.  I  do  not 
claim  that  the  proprietors  could  be  convicted  of  any  specific  offence,  but  I  do 
assert  that  things  are  constantly  occurring  in  them  to  excuse  police  descents, 
and  that  they  could  thus  be  harassed  out  of  existence.  There  is  little  sense  in 
the  city  making  exertions  for  a  purity  which  it  is  imi^ossible  to  attain,  but  it  is 
suicidal  folly  to  permit  the  growth  of  ulcers  which  are  destroying  the  moral 
life  of  a  million  of  people. 


WILL  MURDER  OUT? 


AT  seven  o'clock  on  the  morning  of  the  last  day  of  1868,  Charles  M. 
Rogers,  an  elderly  gentleman  of  primitive  habits,  living  at  No.  42 
East  Twelfth  street,  in  the  City  of  New  York,  stepped  out  upon  the  side- 
walk in  front  of  his  house.  At  the  moment  two  outlaws  happened  to  be 
passing.  Taking  off  his  light  drab  overcoat,  the  smaller  one  handed  it  to  his 
taller  companion,  who  crossed  the  street,  whence  he  remonstrated  "Jim,  don't 
do  it."  But  Jim,  made  of  more  reckless  stuff,  snatched  the  old  gentleman's 
watch,  and  simultaneously  jerking  his  wallet  from  his  pocket,  transferred  these 
articles  to  the  pocket  of  his  blue  flannel  sack-coat.  The  robbery  accomplished, 
Jim  would  have  gone  his  way  rejoicing,  had  not  Rogers  seized  him  by  the  collar 
of  his  coat,  with  the  hope  of  compelling  a  return  of  his  property.  The  struggle 
that  ensued  was  brief  but  terrible.  At  the  same  instant  of  time  Rogers  tore 
from  his  assailant  exactly  one-half  of  his  coat,  and  the  thief,  in  his  eagerness  to 
escape,  became  an  assassin,  by  plunging  a  huge  knife  into  the  abdomen  of  the 
man  he  had  despoiled.  Public  as  was  the  street,  and  clear  as  was  the  light  of 
day,  the  affair  had  not  been  witnessed  by  any  human  eye,  and  the  murderer  and 
his  passive  accomplice  fled  untracked.  A  moment  later  Rogers  was  found  dying 
on  his  own  threshold.  He  was  able  to  give  the  outlines  of  this  last  instance  of 
New  York  lawlessness,  but  expired  after  two  days  of  semi-consciousness. 

The  murderer  had  left  behind  him  his  hat,  the  sheath  of  his  knife,  and  the 
fragment  of  his  coat.  In  the  pocket  of  the  latter  was  the  watch  and  wallet  he 
had  risked  his  neck  to  get,  and  also  an  envelope,  from  which  the  letter  had  been 
taken,  and  which  was  superscribed,  "Jams  Logan,  N.  Y.  Cytty — this  will  be  handed 
yu  by  Tom."  The  police,  taking  up  the  clue  thus  offered,  began  a  vigorous, 
but  somewhat  disjointed  search  for  a  certain  James  Logan  who  had  been  shortly 
before  discharged  from  State  Prison.  Within  a  week  this  theory  was  exploded, 
by  the  self-surrender  of  Logan,  as  that  act  was  accepted  as  sufficient  proof  of 
his  innocence.  Forced  to  begin  the  search  anew,  it  was  next  discovered  that 
the  letter  had  been  written  by  a  Sing  Sing  convict  named  Tom  McGivney,  alias 
Jim  Rice,  who,  in  prison  and  out  of  it,  had  been  an  intimate  associate  of  Logan's. 
This  convict,  desiring  to  communicate  with  his  comrade,  who  had  been  dis- 
charged, sneaked  down  to  the  river,  with  the  intention  of  sending  his  missive  by 
one  of  the  hands  of  a  sloop  lying  at  the  wharf  at  Sing  Sing.  Finding  the  sloop 
for  the  moment  deserted,  he  took  advantage  of  the  opportunity  thus  given  him, 
to  escape,  and,  secreting  himself  in  the  vessel,  got  to  New  York,  carrying  his 
own  letter.  He  could  then,  of  course,  communicate  in  person  with  Logan  ;  and, 
having  destroyed  his  letter,  in  a  careless  moment  left  the  envelope  in  his  pocket, 
to  be  the  most  important  link  in  a  strong  chain  of  circumstantial  evidence  seem- 
ing to  bind  him  to  a  terrible  crime. 

The  murder  of  Rogers  was  an  event  so  startling  in  itself,  and  the  subsequent 
developments  were  so  singular,  that  the  affair  became  the  sensation  of  the  dawn- 
ing year,  and  was  for  many  days  the  chief  topic  of  journalism  and  conversation. 
Among  the  police,  especially,  it  was  the  absorbing  theme,  and  it  dragged  up 
many  long-buried  crimes  for  the  purpose  of  comparison.  Generally,  the  case 
was  conceded  to  be  without  a  prototype  ;  and  Inspector  James  Leonard,    who  had 


WILL  MURDER  OUT?  165 

been  a  prominent  and  valuable  police  officer  of  New  York  from  1845,  admitted 
that  it  had  no  exact  parallel  in  his  experience.  But  when  the  case  occasioned 
the  assertion  that  "  murder  will  out,"  and  that  no  lapse  of  time  or  combination 
of  circumstances  can  ever  shield  the  assassin  from  ultimate  detection,  he  cited 
many  cases  in  rebuttal  of  the  adage,  and  among  them  those  which  are  appended. 

THE   BUCKSON   CASE. 

In  the  year  185 1  Captain  John  Buckson  lived,  with  his  wife  Nancy,  in  a 
handsome  cottage  in  the  village  of  Seakonk,  near  Providence,  Rhode  Island,  in 
the  enjoyment  of  a  competence  acquired  by  many  years  of  frugal  industry.  He 
was,  however,  often  absent  from  home,  as  he  still  pursued  his  vocation,  and  was 
master  of  the  sloop  "  Oregon,"  plying  between  Providence  and  Norfolk,  Vir- 
ginia. 

He  had  then  reached  his  fiftieth  year,  and  his  hard  seafaring  life  had  not 
made  him  look  younger  than  he  was.  He  was  tall,  gaunt  and  angular,  weather- 
stained  and  storm-beaten.  His  short,  stiff  hair  was  grizzled,  and  his  long  nar- 
row face  furrowed  by  deep  lines,  but  his  physical  powers  appeared  to  be  still 
untouched,  and  he  seemed  assured  of  a  long  continuance  of  active  life. 

His  temperament  was  favorable  to  a  lusty  longevity.  He  was  patient,  and 
apparently  so  passionless  that  he  stared  at  the  cares  and  troubles  of  life,  as  at 
strangers  with  whom  he  could  not  possibly  have  dealings.  He  avoided  quarrels 
and  all  unseemliness  with  scrupulous  care,  and  was  known  on  his  vessel  and  in 
his  village  only  as  a  sedate.  God-fearing  man,  kind-hearted  and  even-tempered. 

But  he  had  positive  points  in  his  chai  icter,  and  the  requisite  friction  would 
produce  the  natural  glow.  As  in  all  equable  men,  his  anger  burned  with  dim 
light  but  intense  heat,  and  hence,  with  him,  a  knitting  of  the  brows  or  twitch- 
ing of  the  hands,  meant  more  than  the  wildest  signs  of  passion  in  other  men, 
and  his  word  of  wrath  was  weightier  than  the  brawler's  blow.  But  he  so  loved 
peace,  and  so  sedulously  courted  it,  that  his  most  intimate  associates  remem- 
bered as  memorable  epochs  the  rare  occasions  when  his  temper  had  given  way. 

The  only  trouble  of  his  life  brooded  upon  his  own  hearth-stone.  Mrs.  Nan- 
cy Buckson  was  many  years  his  junior  in  age,  and  in  important  respects  his  op- 
posite in  character.  To  her  youth  she  added  comeliness  of  person.  Though 
a  thoroughly  good  woman  at  heart,  she  yet  embittered  her  life  and  his  by  con- 
stant efforts  to  do  more  than  her  duty.  Nervous  and  irritable,  she  became  fret- 
fully voluble  in  her  assertions  of  her  own  merits  and  his  short-comings.  So  in 
the  summer  of  1851,  the  neighbors  began  to  pity  poor  Captain  John  as  a  hen- 
pecked husband,  and  the  inroads  of  the  wife  upon  the  domestic  quietude  were 
noticed  as  of  constantly  increasing  frequency  and  bitterness.  Captain  John,  how- 
ever, bore  the  infliction  with  his  accustomed  patience. 

But  the  end  was  at  hand.  One  evening  in  the  last  week  in  July,  a  neighbor, 
James  Pauls,  in  passing  the  house,  keard  Nancy's  tongue  going  at  an  unusual  rate, 
and  glancing  through  the  window  saw  Buckson  standing  before  her.  He  seemed 
roused  at  last,  and  although  Pauls  could  not  hear  his  words,  he  saw  the  knitted 
brows  and  twitching  hands,  in  one  of  which  a  stout  whipcord  was  convulsively 
grasped.  The  scene  was  indelibly  stamped  by  after-events  upon  the  memory 
of  the  accidental  witness,  and  he  could  always  see,  even  to  the  most  minute  de- 
tails, the  enraged  woman,  confronted  by  that  quiet,  concentrated  man,  strug- 
gling with  his  passion,  and  fidgetting  with  a  whipcord.  At  the  time,  however, 
Pauls  gave  no  especial  weight  to  the  circumstance,  and  stopping  at  the  village 
inn  on  his  way  home,  only  casually  remarked  to  the  inevitable  loungers,  that  he 


i66  THE  NETHER  SIDE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

"reckoned  Nancy  would  keep  on  a  naggin'  of  Captain  John  until  she  riled  him." 

The  next  morning  the  cottage  was  closed  and  deserted,  bui  the  circumstance 
did  not  excite  remark.  Buckson,  it  was  presumed,  had  gone  to  Providence  to 
prepare  his  sloop  for  sea,  and  Nancy  had  a  habit  of  making  sudden  pilgrimages 
to  ihe  neighboring  towns.  The  event,  then,  was  so  far  from  being  suspicious 
that  it  was  not  even  unusual. 

In  those  days  a  magnificent  forest  stretched  to  the  northward  from  the  little 
town,  interspersed  with  patches  of  open  land  where  the  blackberry  grew  in  great 
abundance.  This  wonder  and  delight  of  the  American  glades  had  fully  ripened 
under  the  hot  July  sun,  and  the  children  of  the  village  were  busily  employed  in 
gathering  the  fruit.  That  afternoon  the  patches  were  unusually  crowded.  One 
group  of  children  started  home  just  before  sundown,  taking  their  way  direct 
through  the  wood  without  regard  to  beaten  patiis.  They  had  gone  but  a  short 
distance  when  the  little  dog  that  was  with  them  stopped,  and  began  to  sniff  ea- 
gerly at  a  spot  of  ground  which  appeared  to  have  been  recently  disturbed.  Giv- 
ing a  long  mournful  howl  the  dog  scratched  furiously  with  his  paws  in  the  sand, 
and  in  a  moment  had  uncovered  a  human  hand.  Howling  more  mgurnfully 
than  before,  he  bounded  off  a  couple  of  feet,  and  tore  at  the  ground  with  re- 
doubled energy.  He  soon  completed  his  task,  and  the  children  saw  a  woman's 
face,  pale  and  rigid,  imbedded  in  the  moist  clayey  earth.  With  but  one  glance 
at  the  horror,  they  dropped  their  pails  and  fled  to  the  village.  The  dog  detec- 
tive remained  yelping  over  the  crime  he  had  unearthed. 

Every  village,  probably,  has  its  sensation  at  some  time,  and  that  of  Seakonk 
came  with  the  story  of  the  children.  As  the  tidings  spread  from  house  to  house 
the  people  gathered  at  the  inn,  and  eagerly  discussed  what  should  be  done  and 
who  should  do  it.  At  last,  all  the  male  inhabitants,  headed  by  the  Squire,  bear- 
ing a  lantern,  and  piloted  by  the  children,  started  out  to  investigate  the  matter. 
But  the  pilots  were  not  needed,  as  the  dog  still  maintained  his  watch  ;  and  with 
his  mournful  bowlings  echoing  through  the  dim  woods,  the  party  could  not  go 
astray.  Reaching  the  spot,  they  gathered  around  it,  and  the  Squire  advanced 
and,  kneeling  down,  wiped  the  dirt  from  the  face  of  the  dead  woman  with  the 
skirt  of  his  coat.     Then  he  held  the  lantern  over  it. 

"  It's  Nancy  Buckson  !  " 

He  fell  back  a  few  paces  with  the  exclamation,  and  his  companions  turned 
to  imitate  the  conduct  of  the  children  shortly  before.  They  rallied,  however,  at 
his  summons,  and  fell  vigorously  to  work  to  exliume  the  body.  A  few  shovelsful 
of  earth,  and  the  body  of  a  woman,  without  shroud  or  coffin,  but  fully  dressed 
in  tha  ordinary  garments  of  life,  was  exposed.  About  the  body  a  white  sub- 
stance was  plentifully  sprinkled,  and  was  found  to  be  chloride  of  lime,  doubtless 
placed  there  to  insure  speedy  decomposition. 

Every  one  recognized  poor  Nancy  Buckson,  and  saw  the  ridged  and  livid 
mark  upon  the  neck,  pointed  out  by  the  Squire.  It  was  plain  that  she  had  been 
murdered  by  strangulation,  and  tossed,  dressed  as  she  was  at  the  moment  of  her 
violent  death,  into  the  rude  grave  where  the  dog  had  found  her. 

The  neighbor,  Pauls,  now  recalled  the  quarrel  of  the  preceding  day,  and  told 
how  Captain  John  had  stood  before  the  angry  woman,  playing  with  the  whipcord. 
The  cottage  was  searched,  and  a  cord  was  found  lying  on  the  floor  of  the  room, 
which,  when  tried  upon  the  woman's  neck,  fitted  exactly  the  ridged  and  livid  cir- 
cle. In  the  cellar  was  a  quantity  of  a  white  substance  precisely  similar  to  that 
found  in  the  grave,  and  those  articles  belonging  to  Mrs.  Buckson  found  upon 
tlie  corpse  were  missing  from  the  house.  There  could  be  no  more  doubt  as  to 
the  criminal  than  the  crime. 


WILL  MURDER  OUT?  167 

Captain  Jol  a  Buckson  was  not  found  in  the  village  or  in  Providence  ;  but  it 
was  ascertained  that  he  had  sailed  with  his  sloop,  and  the  presumption  was 
raised  that  he  intended  to  touch  at  New  York,  and  there,  leaving  the  vessel,  seek 
to  elude  the  officers  of  the  law  in  the  labyrinths  of  the  great  city.  A  messen- 
ger was,  therefore,  dispatched  in  great  haste  to  reach  the  city  before  him,  with  a 
requisition  for  his  arrest. 

His  authority  was  placed  in  the  hands  of  Police  Captain  Leonard — the  officer 
referred-  to  in  my  preamble — who  searched  diligently  among  the  shipping,  until 
he  found  the  sloop  "  Oregon,"  moored  at  an  East  River  pier.  Going  on  board, 
Captain  Leonard  greeted  Buckson,  who  was  seated  on  the  deck. 

"  Good -day,  sir." 

The  sailor  scarcely  looked  up,  as  he  mechanically  returned  the  salutation. 

"  I'm  sorry  to  trouble  you,  but  I've  a  warrant  for  your  arrest." 

"  Arrest !     For  what  ? " 

The  exclamation  and  succeeding  question  were  those  of  a  phlegmatic  man 
slightly  astonished. 

"  For  the  murder  of  your  wife." 

"  Murder  of  my  wife  !     Squire,  that  can't  be.     Nancy  isn't  dead." 

"  Yes,  she  is — strangled  with  a  cord." 

Buckson  rose  to  his  feet  and,  looking  the  officer  steadily  in  the  face,  said 
slowly  and  solemnly : 

"Squire,  if  Nancy's  dead  I  don't  know  it.  I  had  a  quarrel  with  her  the 
night  I  left,  and  gave  her  a  piece  of  my  mind,  but  God  is  my  witness  that  I 
didn't  put  a  hand  upon  her  !  " 

The  officer  looked  with  some  interest  upon  a  man  who  could  thus  deny  a 
crime  with  which  he  was  so  clearly  linked  by  circumstantial  evidence,  but  with- 
out further  parley  took  him  from  the  sloop  and  placed  him  in  a  cell  of  the  sta- 
tion-house. He  made  no  resistance,  and  did  not  trouble  himself  to  again  vol- 
unteer any  protestation  of  his  innocence.  While  in  the  station-house,  and  dur- 
ing the  journey  to  Providence,  whenever  the  question  was  directly  put  to  him, 
he  always  denied  his  guilt  in  the  same  emphatic  terms,  but  he  was  never  the 
first  to  broach  the  subject,  and  it  was  especially  noticed  that  he  never  made  any 
inquiry  for  the  details  of  the  murder. 

When  the  officer  and  his  charge  arrived  at  Seakonk,  the  latter  seemed 
amazed  to  find  himself  the  object  of  universal  execration.  When  he  reached  the 
village  and  while  he  walked  beside  his  captor  through  the  street  to  the  jail,  he 
was  surrounded  by  a  hooting  mob,  that  pelted  him  with  opprobrious  epithets, 
and  with  difficulty  was  restrained  from  doing  violence  to  his  person.  He  bore 
himself  bravely  and  undismayed  through  it  all.  But  his  conduct  was  noted  only 
to  his  discredit,  and  the  citizens  could  not  remember  any  hardened  wretch  who 
had  ever  so  flaunted  his  crime  in  the  face  of  an  outraged  people. 

In  due  time  the  grand  jury  was  convened  and  his  case  considered.  There 
was  no  more  doubt  of  his  guilt  in  that  official  body  than  in  the  community  at 
large  ;  and  he  was  formally  indicted  for  the  murder  of  Nancy  Buckson. 

When  the  news  was  taken  to  him  in  his  cell  he  only  said :  "  God's  will  be 
done  ! " 

His  perfect  resignation  had,  by  this  time,  won  slightly  on  the  jailer's  heart, 
and  he  inquired  if  he  did  not  wish  to  engage  counsel  to  defend  him  at  the  ap- 
proaching trial.  Buckson's  face  brightened  with  this  first  faint  sign  of  sympa- 
thy, but  he  answered : 

"  I  thank  you,  friend,  but  I  don't  need  a  lawyer.  God  knows  I  am  innocent 
of  this  crime  and  He  will  prove  it  in  His  own  good  time." 


i68  THE  NETHER  SIDE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

The  day  appointed  for  the  trial  of  the  prisoner  was  dose  at  hand  ^Ahen  the 
quiet  village  was  startled  by  a  new  terror.  One  pleasant  September  morning  a 
ghost  descended  from  the  eastern  coach  and  walked  leisurely,  and  with  every 
semblance  of  life,  up  the  street  toward  the  long-deserted  cottage.  It  was  a  horri- 
ble ghost,  for  it  nodded  familiar  greetings  to  several  persons  it  met  upon  the 
way,  and  once  tried  to  pat  a  shrinking  ciiild.  It  almost  seemed  endowed  with 
human  passions  for  many  were  ready  to  make  oath  that  they  saw  its  cheek  flush 
with  anger  when  it  found  the  entire  town  avoiding  it  in  unconcealed  terror.  But 
it  was  a  persistent  gliost,  for  it  walked  steadily  on  until  it  reached  the  gate  of  the 
cottage-garden,  which  it  found  nailed  up ;  and  it  became  a  talkative  ghost  when 
it  discovered  the  pigs  running  riot  in  the  garden.  In  the  very  voice  oi  the  dead 
Nancy  Buckson,  it  said  in  a  peevish  tone  : 

"That  John  Buckson  '11  be  the  death  of  me  yet !  Just  see  how  he  lets  these 
pesky  hogs  root  up  things  !  " 

It  was,  indeed,  Nancy  Buckson  herself. 

It  is  needless  to  prolong  the  story.  On  the  night  of  the  quarrel  Captain  John 
had  left,  as  usual,  to  take  out  his  sloop,  and  Nancy,  smarting  under  the  severe 
censure  he  had,  for  the  first  time,  expressed,  had  gone  otf  on  foot,  during  the 
night,  to  a  neigliboring  town,  where  she  was  unknown,  and  had  there  taken  a 
coach  to  begin  a  journey  to  Maine  to  visit  a  sister.  Her  absence  from  the  cot- 
tage was  not  known  until  after  the  finding  of  the  body,  and  its  identification  was 
so  absolute  that  of  course  no  search  was  made  for  a  woman  known  to  be  dead. 
On  the  other  hand  she  had  heard  nothing,  in  a  retired  spot  of  a  distant  State,  of 
her  supposed  death  and  the  subsequent  events  ;  and  her  return,  timely  as  it  was, 
had  been  purely  accidental.  She  was  horrified  when  confronted  with  the  results 
of  her  thoughtless  freak,  and,  although  she  made  no  noisy  demonst^rations  of  re- 
gret, and  was  not  profuse  in  promises  of  amendment  in  the  future,  it  is  pleasant 
to  knov/  that  this  terrible  experience  was  not  without  fruit.  Buckson  was,  of 
course,  imipediately  released  from  prison,  the  legal  proceedings  against  him  at 
once  dismissed,  and  thereafter  he  found  in  his  home  a  haven  of  rest  that  was 
a  recompense  for  the  suffering  by  which  it  had  been  purchased. 

But  a  mystery  has  always  brooded  over  the  cottage,  and  the  murder  always 
remained  an  insoluble  enigma.  Eighteen  years  have  elapsed  without  any  sec- 
ond identification  of  the  body  unearthed  by  the  little  dog,  and,  as  a  consequence, 
without  any  detection  of  the  murderer.  The  clothes  in  which  the  body  was 
dressed  and  the  ear-rings  and  articles  of  jewelry  upon  it,  were  undoubtedly  the 
property  of  Mrs.  Buckson,  for,  upon  her  return,  she  found  these  articles  missing 
from  the  house.  A  close  scrutiny  of  the  cottage  showed  that  the  woman  had 
not  only  been  there,  but  had  probably  been  murdered  there  during  the  night, 
after  Buckson  and  his  wife  had  left.  The  cord  found  in  the  room  had  fitted  the 
neck,  and  the  chloride  of  lime  in  the  cellar  had  evidently  been  disturbed. 
Many  articles  of  value,  too,  were  gone,  and  the  house  generally  disarranged. 
Upon  these  circumstances  a  theory  was  founded  that  the  woman  was  one  of  a 
party  of  burglars  that  had  entered  the  cottage,  and  finding  it  deserted,  had  leis- 
urely ransacked  it.  The  woman  had  arrayed  herself  in  the  property  of  the  ab- 
sent mistress,  and  afterward  some  quarrel  had  arisen  and  she  had  been  mur- 
dered by  the  other  members  of  the  party.  Subsequently  this  theory  was,  in 
part,  thoroughly  established,  when  a  complete  female  outfit,  of  coarse  material, 
was  accidentally  fished  out  of  an  old  and  unused  well  in  ilic  cottage-garden. 

Detectives  are  apt  to  attach  the  names  of  noted  criminals  to  extraordinary 
crimes,  and,  many  years  after  the  events  narrated,  a  rumor  was  prevalent  among 


WILL  MURDER  OUT?  169 

the  police  of  Providence  that  the  murdered  woman  had  been  the  wife  of  an 
English  burglar  named  Collins,  then  living  in  Providence,  and  celebrated  all 
over  the  Union  for  his  success  and  recklessness.  The  rumor  had  no  better 
foundation  than  that  Collins  and  his  wife  disappeared  at  about  the  time  of  the 
murder,  and  it  only  lived  because  theories  always  thrive  when  facts  are  impos- 
sible to  obtain. 

The  case  yet  remains  among  unfinished  police  business.  No  human  effort 
has  ever  learned  more  than  was  discovered  by  the  brute  instincts  of  the  dog 
when  he  pawed  the  secret  of  the  murder  from  the  shallow  grave  in  the  dark 
forest. 

THE   RICARD   CASE. 

One  spring  morning,  during  the  first  year  of  the  war,  a  barrel  of  pitch  was 
found  to  have  disappeared  from  a  Jersey  City  pier,  and  the  porter  in  charge, 
when  reporting  the  fact  to  his  employers,  took  occasion  to  speak  of  the  river- 
thieves  in  no  very  complimentary  terms. 

On  the  same  day,  Ada  Ricard,  a  woman  of  nomadic  habits  and  dubious 
status,  but  of  marvellous  beauty,  suddenly  left  her  hotel  in  New  York,  without 
taking  the  trouble  to  announce  her  departure  or  s.tate  her  destination.  The 
clerks  of  the  house  only  remarked  that  some  women  had  queer  ways. 

A  few  days  after  these  simultaneous  events,  the  same  porter  who  had 
mourned  the  lost  pitch,  happening  to  look  down  from  the  end  of  his  pier  when 
the  tide  was  out,  saw  a  small  and  shapely  human  foot  protruding  above  the 
waters  of  the  North  River.  It  was  a  singular  circumstance,  for  the  bodies  of 
the  drowned  never  float  in  such  fashion  ;  but  the  porter,  not  stopping  to  specu- 
late upon  it,  procured  the  necessary  assistance,  and  proceeded  to  land  the  body. 
It  came  up  unusually  heavy,  and  when  at  last  brought  tu  the  surface,  was  found 
to  be  made  fast  by  a  rope  around  the  waist  to  the  missing  barrel  of  pitch. 
There  was  a  gag  securely  fastened  in  the  mouth,  and  these  two  circumstances 
were  positive  evidence  that  murder  had  been  done. 

When  the  body  was  landed  upon  the  pier,  it  was  found  to  be  in  a  tolerable 
state  of  preservation,  although  there  were  conclusive  signs  that  it  had  been  in 
the  water  for  some  time.  It  was  the  body  of  a  female,  entirely  nude,  with  the 
exception  of  an  embroidered  linen  chemise  and  one  hsle-thread  stocking,  two 
sizes  larger  than  the  foot,  but  exactly  fitting  the  full-rounded  limb.  The  face 
and  the  contour  of  the  form  were,  therefore,  fully  exposed  to  examination,  and 
proved  to  be  those  of  a  woman  who  must  have  been  very  handsome.  There 
was  the  cicatrice  of  an  old  wound  on  a  lower  limb,  but  otherwise  there  was  no 
spot  or  blemish  upon  the  body. 

In  due  time  the  body  was  buried  ;  but  the  head  was  removed,  and  preserved 
in  the  office  of  the  city  physician,  with  the  hope  that  it  might  be  the  means  of 
establishing  the  identity  of  the  dead,  and  leading  to  the  detection  of  the  mur- 
derer. 

The  police  on  both  sides  of  the  river  were  intensely  interested  in  the  case ; 
but  they  found  themselves  impotent  before  that  head  of  a  woman,  v/ho  seemed 
to  have  never  been  seen  upon  earth  in  life.  They  could  do  nothing,  therefore, 
but  wait  patiently  for  whatever  developments  time"  might  bring. 

Chance  finally  led  to  the  desired  identification.  A  gentleman  who  had  known 
her  intimately  for  two  years,  happening  to  see  the  head,  at  once  declared  it  to 
be  that  of  Ada  Ricard.  The  detectives  eagerly  clutched  at  this  thread,  and 
were  soon  in  possession  of  the  coincidence  in  time  of  her  disappearance  and 
that  of  the  barrel  of  pitch  to  which  the  body  was  lashed.     They  further  found 


170  THE  NETHER  SIDE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

that,  since  that  time,  she  had  not  been  seen  in  the  city,  nor  could  any  trace  of 
her  be  discovered  in  other  sections  of  the  country,  tiirough  correspondence  wich 
the  police  authorities  of  distant  cities.  They  had  thus  a  woman  lost  and  a  body 
found,  and  the  case  was  considered  to  be  in  a  most  promising  condition. 

The  next  step  was  to  establish  the  identity  by  the  testimony  of  those  who  had 
known  the  missing  woman  most  intimately.  The  detectives,  therefore,  instituted 
a  search,  which  was  finally  successful,  for  Charles  Ricard,  her  putative  husband. 
He  had  not  lived  with  her  for  some  time,  and  had  not  even  seen  or  he^rd  of  her 
for  months  ;  but  his  recollection  was  perfect,  and  he  gave  a  very  minute  state- 
ment of  her  distinguishing  marks.  He  remembered  that  she  had  persisted  in 
wearing  a  pair  of  very  heavy  earrings,  until  their  weight  had  slit  one  of  her  ears 
entirely,  and  the  other  nearly  so,  and  that,  as  a  consequence,  both  ears  had  been 
pierced  a  second  time,  and  unusually  high  up.  He  regretted  that  her  splendid 
array  of  teeth  had  been  marred  by  the  loss  of  one  upon  the  left  side  of  the 
mouth,  and  told  how  a  wound  had  been  received,  whose  cicatrice  appeared  upon 
one  of  her  limbs,  stating  exactly  its  location.  He  dwelt  with  some  pride  upon  the 
fact  that  she  had  been  forced,  by  the  unusual  development,  to  wear  stockings  too 
laige  for  her  feet,  and  gave  a  general  description  of  hair,  cast  efface,  height,  and 
weight  that  was  valuable,  because  minute. 

When  he  gave  this  statement  he  was  not  aware  of  the  death  of  his  wife,  or 
of  the  finding  of  her  body,  and  without  being  informed  of  either  fact  he  was 
taken  to  Jersey  City,  and  suddenly  confronted  with  tlie  head.  The  instant  he 
saw  it  he  sank  into  a  chair  in  horror 

HLs  statement  having  been  compared  witli  the  head  and  the  record  of  the 
body,  the  similitude  was  found  to  be  exact,  except  Hi  to  the  teeth.  The  head 
had  one  tooth  missing  on  each  side  of  the  mouth,  and,  this  fact  having  been  called 
to  his  attention,  Ricard  insisted  that  she  had  lost  but  one  when  he  last  saw  her, 
but  it  was  highly  probable  the  pther  had  been  forced  out  in  the  struggle  which 
robbed  her  of  her  life,  and  the  physician,  for  the  first  time  making  a  minute  ex- 
amination, found  that  the  tooth  upon  the  right  side  had  been  forced  from  its 
place  but  was  still  adhering  to  the  gum.  He  easily  pushed  it  back  to  its  proper 
position,  and  there  was  the  head  without  a  discrepancy  between  it  and  the  de- 
scription of  Ada  Ricard. 

The  detectives  found  other  witnesses,  and  among  them  the  hair-dresser  who 
had  acted  in  that  capacity  for  Ada  Ricard  during  many  months,  who,  in  com- 
mon with  all  the  others,  fully  confirmed  the  evidence  of  Charles  Ricard.  The 
identity  of  the  murdered  woman  was  therefore  established  beyond  question. 

Naturally  the  next  step  was  to  solve  the  mystery  of  her  death.  The  detec- 
tives went  to  work  with  unusual  caution,  but  persisted  in  the  task  they  had  as- 
signed themselves,  and  were  slowly  gathering  the  shreds  of  her  life,  to  weave 
from  them  a  thread  that  would  lead  to  the  author  of  her  tragical  death,  when 
they  were  suddenly  "floored,"  to  use  their  own  energetic  expression.  Ada  Ri- 
card herself  appeared  at  a  down-town  New  York  hotel,  in  perfect  health  and  un- 
scathed in  person. 

The  explanation  was  simple.  The  whim  had  suddenly  seized  her  to  go  to 
New  Orleans,  and  she  had  gone  without  leave-taking  or  warning.  It  was  no 
unusual  incident  in  her  wandering  life,  and  her  speedy  return  was  due  only  to 
the  fact  that  she  found  the  Soutliern  city  only  a  military  camp  under  the  iron 
rule  of  General  Butler,  and  therefore  an  unprofitalile  field  for  her.  *' 

The  ghastly  head  became  more  of  a  mystery  than  before.  The  baffled  de- 
tectives could  again  only  look  at  it  helplessly,  and  send  descriptions  of  it  over 


WILL  MURDER  OUT?  171 

the  country.  At  last  it  was  seen  by  a  woman  named  Callahan,  living  in  Boston, 
who  was  in  search  of  a  daughter  who  had  gone  astray.  She  instantly  pro- 
nounced it  to  be  that  of  her  child,  and  she  was  corroborated  by  all  the  members 
of  her  family  and  several  of  her  neighbors.  The  identification  was  no  less  spe- 
cific than  before,  and  the  perplexed  authorities,  glad  at  last  to  know  something 
certainly,  gave  Mrs.  Callahan  an  order  for  the  body.  Before,  however,  she  had 
completed  her  arrangements  for  its  transfer  to  Boston,  a  message  reached  her 
from  the  .daughter,  wlio  was  lying  sick  in  Bellevue  Hospital,  and  so  the  head 
once  more  became  a  mystery.  And  such  it  has  always  remained.  The  body 
told  that  a  female  who  had  been  delicately  reared,  who  had  fared  sumptuously, 
and  had  been  arrayed  in  costly  fabrics,  had  been  foully  done  to  death,  just  as 
she  was  stepping  into  the  dawn  of  womanhood — and  that  is  all  that  is  known. 
Her  name,  her  station,  her  history,  her  virtues,  or  it  may  be,  her  frailties,  all 
went  down  with  her  life,  and  were  irrevocably  lost.  There  is  every  probability 
that  her  case  will  always  be  classed  as  unfinished  business. 

THE   BURKE   CASE. 

It  is  not  often  that  a  merchant  going  to  his  place  of  business  in  the  morn- 
ing, finds  his  stock  of  rich  goods  dabbled  the  whole  length  of  his  spacious  store 
with  blood,  and  under  his  open  window  looking  out  upon  such  a  thoroughfare  as 
Broadway,  sees  the  mangled  remnants  of  a  faithful  servant  on  whom  thirty-six 
stab-wouads  had  been  iniliclcd  before  he  would  yield  up  his  life.  Such  a 
scene  as  this  was  encountered  in  the  case  now  to  be  narrated,  and  which 
remains,  after  the  lapse  of  sixteen  years,  unsurpassed  among  remarkable 
murders. 

When,  early  on  the  morning  of  the  iSth  of  July,  1856,  a  clerk  of  Samuel  Joyce, 
tailor,  whose  shop  was  on  the  second  floor  of  No.  378  Broadway,  attempted  to 
to  enter  the  establishment,  he  was  much  surprised  to  find  the  door  locked. 
Bartholomew  Burke,  the  porter,  had  slept  in  the  store  for  several  years,  and  had 
never  before  been  remiss  in  opening  it  at  the  proper  hour.  The  clerk  stood, 
puzzled  and  wondering,  until  he  caught  sight  of  a  faint  blood-stain  on  the  handle 
of  the  door.  The  marks  of  murder  make  men  wonderfully  cautious,  and  he  hur- 
ried into  the  street  to  find  a  policeman.  Jourdan  was  encountered  near  by,  and 
going  up  stairs  he  looked  curiously  for  an  instant  at  the  stain  on  the  handle, 
and  then  kicked  in  the  door.  Entering  the  room  he  encountered  a  spectacle 
that  his  experience  had  not  then,  and  has  never  since  equalled. 

The  instant  he  opened  the  door  Burke  had  been  assailed,  and  fought"  long 
and  bravely.  The  weapons  used  in  the  terrible  affray  both  remained  in  the 
room  as  frightful  evidences  of  the  horrors  of  the  night.  Beside  the  dead  man 
lay  a  pair  huge  shears,  plainly  witnessing  that  they  had  been  his  weapon,  but 
they  were  no  match  for  the  short  keen-edged  sword,  blood-clotted  to  the  hilt, 
which  the  murderer  had  dropped  close  b3^ 

The  struggle  must  have  occupied  at  least  ten  minutes,  and  could  not  have 
been  entirely  noiseless  ;  and  yet  no  intimation  of  it  reached  any  human  ear.  It 
occurred  in  a  room  with  a  window  partly  open,  which  looked  upon  the  great  ar- 
tery of  a  populous  city.  A  score  of  persons  must  have  passed  the  building 
while  the  tragedy  was  going  on  ;  but  to  none  of  them  came  any  knowledge  of  it, 
and  the  family  occupying  the  floor  above  slept,  unconscious  of  the  bloody  work. 

The  assassin  had  gone  from  the  building  unseen.     He  had  washed  his  hands 


172  THE  NETHER  SIDE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

and  face  at  the  wash-stand,  in  a  front  corner  of  the  room,  and  had  probably  re- 
moved every  sign  of  the  murder  from  his  person.  But  he  had  received  a  slight 
cut  in  the  hand,  that  had  persisted  in  bleeding,  and  hence  the  stain  upon  the 
door-knob  and  a  few  spots  of  blood  upon  the  stairs.  He  had,  however,  o-one 
from  his  work  without  physical  exhaustion  or  mental  trepidation.  He  had 
walked  steadily  down  stairs,  and  had  not  only  thoughtfully  locked  the  door  and 
removed  the  key,  to  make  sure  that  the  murder  should  not  be  discovered  until 
after  daylight,  but,  at  the  bottom  of  the  stairway,  had  remembered  that  the 
trickling  from  his  hand  was  leaving  a  red  trail  for  the  officers-  of  the  law  to  fol- 
low, and  he  had  bound  up  his  wound.  He  left  no  more  of  the  tell-tale  spots 
behind  him,  and,  in  stepping  from  the  entry-way  into  the  street,  all  signs  of  his 
existence  vanished,  except  that,  a  hundred  feet  from  the  door,  a  belated  citizen 
met  a  man  walking  leisurely,  and  carelessly  whistling  a  popular  air,  whose  face 
he  did  not  see,  and  whose  person  he  did  not  note,  except  that  he  had  a  bandaged 
hand. 

Murder  in  that  day  was  a  crime  in  New  York,  and  that  of  Burke  had  been 
so  atrocious  in  its  details  that  it  created  intense  excitement,  and  George  W. 
Matsell,  who  was  then  chief  of  police,  put  his  best  detectives  on  the  track  of 
the  murderer.  It  was  naturally  inferred,  at  first,  that  the  porter  had  been  slain 
in  an  endeavor  to  protect  the  property  of  his  employer  from  some  friend  who 
had  determined  to  turn  thief;  but,  when  an  examination  of  the  stock  was  made, 
it  was  found  that  not  a  dollars  worth  of  the  property  of  Mr.  Joyce  had  been 
stolen.  The  trunk  of  Burke  was  found  open  and  in  disorder  ;  but  there  was  no 
evidence  that  anything  of  value  had  been  removed,  and,  as  the  shop  had  certainly 
not  been  robbed,  greed  had  plainly  not  been  the  motive  for  the  crime. 

This  discovery  completely  baffled  the  officers,  and  jilaced  the  affiur  among 
the  extraordinary  murders.  Burke  had  been  a  man  of  humble  station  and  retir- 
ing habits,  with  few  or  no  intimate  associates,  and  it  was  found  impossible  to 
gather  such  details  of  his  life  as  would  be  of  service  in  pursuing  his  assassin. 
The  officers  had  not  only  to  track  an  unknown  murderer,  but  to  discover  a  mo- 
tive for  his  crime,  and  this  fact  added  immensely  to  the  difficulties  of  the  task. 

There  was,  indeed,  a  glimmer  of  hope  in  the  circumstance  that,  about  half- 
past  nine  o'clock  on  the  evening  of  his  death,  Burke  had  been  in  the  saloon  in 
the  basement  of  the  building  in  which  he  was  employed,  in  company  with  a  man 
with  whom  he  had  drunk.  The  two  men  had  gone  out  together,  Burke  carrying  a 
pot  of  beer  which  he  had  purchased  ;  and,  about  ten  o'clock,  a  citizen,  passing  on 
the  opposite  side  of  the  street,  had  seen  two  men  sitting  at  the  front  window  of 
Joyce's  shop,  with  two  empty  beer  mugs  on  the  window-sill  before  them.  But 
this  man  was  a  stranger  to  every  one  who  had  seen  him,  and  no  one  was  able  to 
give  any  satisfactory  description  of  his  person.  So,  in  pursuing  him,  the  officers 
found  themselves  in  chase  of  a  shadow  that  constantly  grew  more  unsubstantial. 
The  sword  was,  at  first,  eagerly  seized  as  a  means  of  discovering  the  murderer. 
It  was  so  peculiar  in  itself,  and  so  unusual  a  weapon  for  an  aiTray,  that  a  search 
for  the  owner,  as  a  starting  point  in  the  pursuit,  was  begun,  with  the  greatest 
confidence  in  its  success.  But  even  this  resource  failed,  and  no  one  could  be 
found  who  had  ever  seen  it  before  Jourdan  picked  it  up,  blood-clotted  and 
blunted,  from  the  floor  where  the  murderer  had  dropped  it. 

The  investigation  by  the  coroner  extended  through  three  days,  and  was  thor- 
ough and  exhaustive.  The  detectives  followed  diligently  such  slight  clues  as 
they  could  find,  and  produced,  at  the  inquest,  several  persons  who  had  known 
the  murdered  man  ;  but,  in  the  end,  their  testimony  proved  valueless.     They 


VvHLL  MURDER  OUT? 


173 


knew  him,  as  had  all  his  acquaintances,  as  industrious,  and  generally  sober - 
but  none  of  them  knew  of  any  one  who  bore  him  ill-will,  or  who  had  cause  to 
wish  him  dead.  It  was  developed  that  he  had  saved  $900  during  his  employ- 
ment with  Mr.  Joyce  ;  but  the  money  was  found  untouched  in  the  savings'  banks 
where  he  had  deposited  it,  and  no  attempt  had  ever  been  made  by  any  unauthor- 
ized person  to  withdraw  it.  The  coroner  and  his  jury  were  baffled  at  every  turn, 
and  were  driven  at  last  to  the  unsatisfactory  verdict  of  death  "  at  the  hands  of 
some  person  unknown." 

No  progress  beyond  this  verdict  has  ever  been  made.  No  one  has  ever  been 
even  suspected  of  having  committed  the  crime  ;  and  for  thirteen  years  the  as- 
sassin has  so  preserved  his  dreadful  secret  that  the  case  still  remains  as  unfin- 
ished business. 

THE   LUTENER   CASE. 

On  Tuesday,  the  loth  day  of  January,  1854,  Dr.  William  R.  T.  Lutener,  at 
an  early  hour  of  the  morning,  left  his  residence,  in  One  Hundred  and  Twenty- 
eighth  street,  near  Fourth  avenue,  to  go  to  his  office,  on  the  second  floor  of  No. 
458  Broadway,  and  arrived  there  safely  at  nine  o'clock.  He  went  down  town  that 
wintry  morning,  one  of  the  most  favored  of  men,  both  by  fortune  and  nature. 
He  was  thirty-one  years  of  age,  and  had  been  six  years  married  to  an  amiable 
and  beautiful  lady.  He  was  of  splendid  person,  remarkably  handsome  features, 
and  of  more  than  average  intellect  and  culture.  He  had  become  celebrated  as 
an  aurist,  and  his  practice  had  become  so  extensive  and  lucrative,  that  he  had 
already  amassed  a  competence,  and  had  surrounded  himself,  both  at  home  and 
in  his  office,  with  all  of  the  comforts  and  many  of  the  luxuries  of  life. 

He  entered  his  office  in  thorough  good  humor,  and,  speaking  cheerily  to  his 
charwoman,  sat  down  near  a  front  window,  facing  it ;  and,  as  a  consequence, 
with  his  back  to  the  door.  He  picked  up  a  morning  paper,  and  as  he  opened  it 
the  woman  left  the  room  and  he  remained  alone.  Having  a  visit  to  make  to  a 
sister,  on  the  eastern  side  of  the  city,  the  woman  left  the  building  at  half-past 
nine  o'clock,  and  was  absent  an  hour. 

During  that  hour,  and,  as  nearly  as  he  could  judge,  at  about  ten  o'clock,  a 
gentleman  hurrying  to  keep  an  appointment  with  a  bank  president,  when  pass- 
ing the  building,  No.  458,  thought  he  heard  the  report  of  a  pistol.  He  paused  a 
moment,  and  looked  anxiously  about  him,  but  seeing  no  apparent  cause  for  the 
noise  he  had  heard,  rushed  on  and  thought  no  more  of  the  matter,  for  he  was 
intent  on  negotiating  a  loan,  and  was  a  little  behind  time. 

At  about  half-past  ten  o'clock — people  are  rarely  exact  as  to  time — the  char- 
woman returned  and  on  her  way  up-stairs  paused  to  look  in  and  see  if  the  doc- 
tor wanted  anything.  She  rushed  screaming  from  the  room,  and  in  a  moment 
scores  were  crowding  into  it  to  be  horrified  by  the  sight  that  had  affrighted  her. 
Dr.  Lutener  lay  dead  upon  the  floor,  his  face  pressing  the  carpet  immediately 
under  the  front  window,  and  his  hand  closed  with  the  rigid  clutch  of  death  upon 
the  newspaper  he  had  been  reading.  It  was  plain  that  he  had  been  shot  from 
behind  as  he  sat  reading,  and  had  tumbled  from  his  chair,  done  with  the  world 
and  its  joys  forever.  There  could  not  be  an  instant's  doubt  that  it  was  mur- 
der. 

Almost  the  first  development  at  the  coroner's  inquest  was  the  fact  that  there 
had  been  trouble  of  some  kind  between  Lutener  and  William  Hays  and  his 
wife,  who  resided  in  his  vicinity.  Almost  the  first  act  of  the  coroner  was  to  or- 
der the  arrest  of  Hays  and  his  wife,  and  both  were  taken  during  the  day. 

The  inquest  was  immediately  begun,  was  continued  during  six  successive 


174  THE  NETHER  SIDE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

days,  and  a  large  amount  of  testimony  was  taken  on  each  day.  No  one  had 
seen  the  murder  done,  and,  with  the  exception  stated,  no  ear  had  heard  the  re- 
port of  the  ristol,  but  several  persons  passing  up  and  down  the  stairs,  had  seen 
a  woman  thickly  veiled  pass  into  Lutener's  office  and  come  out  again  almost  in- 
stantly. It  was  theorized,  therefore,  that  a  woman  was  the  assassin,  and  every 
effort  was  made  to  bring  the  crime  home  to  Mrs.  Hays,  and  to  her  husband,  as 
an  accessory  before  the  fact ;  but  they  were  all  fruitless.  The  witnesses  could 
not  identify  Mrs.  Hays  as  the  woman  they  had  seen  enter  the  office,  and  she  on 
her  part  proved  a  complete  and  positive  alibi,  showing  that  at  the  hour  when  the 
murder  was  committed  she  was  transacting  some  law  business  in  an  office  in 
Wall  street,  and  was  seen  there  by  several  reputable  witnesses.  The  coroner's 
jury,  therefore,  were  forced  to  bring  in  a  verdict  of  death  at  the  hands  of  a  per- 
son unknown,  and  Hays  and  his  wife  were  discharged. 

Where  the  coroner  left  the  case  it  still  remains.  For  fifteen  years  the  detec- 
tives have  been  powerless  to  unearth  the  assassin.  It  remains  upon  the  books, 
classed,  as  it  has  been  all  these  years,  as  unfinished  business. 

When  the  Inspector  had  pulled  these  stories,  with  many  others  of  like  char- 
acter, from  the  shelves  of  a  memory  that  was  overburdened  with  the  details  of 
many  horrible  crimes  that  long  ago  passed  out  of  general  remembrance,  I  had 
very  little  respect  left  for  the  venerable  axiom  that  "  Murder  Will  Out."  Having 
selected  from  his  tales  such  as  were  typical  of  all,  I  was  desirous  of  adding  to 
them  any  homicidal  statistics  that  would  determine  how  often  the  axiom  has 
been  disproved  in  the  late  police  experiences  of  New  York. 

There  was  but  one  way  of  approximating  the  truth,  and  I  pursued  it.  Visit- 
ing, the  coroner's  office  and  beginning  with  the  last  recorded  case  of  1868,  I 
worked  patiently  backward  through  the  mortuary  records,  until  I  began  to  stum- 
ble in  the  scrawling  illegibility  prior  to  1856.  As  I  progressed  in  my  work  I 
encountered  facts  of  such  interest,  that  although  not  strictly  pertinent  to  the  ob- 
ject of  my  search,  I  took  note  of  them.  I  found,  for  instance,  that  one  person 
had  died  of  "stricknine,"  and  another  by  "strycknine  ;  "  that  one  had  perished 
by  "  poisonous  sassage,"  and  another  by  "gluttony,"  no  particular  food  being 
charged  with  the  offence.  One  man  had  been  "accidentally  stabbed  while  sky- 
larking"— whatever  that  may  be — and  another  had  died  of  "an  overdose  of  lau- 
danum, but  whether  taken  internally  or  not  the  jury  are  unable  to  say." 

Keeping  my  main  object  steadily  in  view,  when  I  had  concluded  the  examina- 
tion of  fifty-two  huge  volumes,  I  was  able  to  compile  the  following  startling  table : 

HOMICIDES  OF  SIXTEEN  YEARS. 

Year.  By  persons      By  persons        Total, 

known.        unknown. 

1856 24  II  35 

1857 42  13  55 

1858 47  »2  59 

1859 36  IS  51 

i860 32  5  47 

1861 37  '5  52 

1862 31  15  46 

1863 38  "  49 

1864 42  8  50 

1865 49  "  61 

1866 26  9  35 

1867 24  10  34 

1868 39  9  48 

1869 36  s  41 

1870 37  4  41 

1871 34  8  42 

Total 574  172  746 


WILL  MURDER  OUT?  175 

In  this  table  are  included  as  homicides  only  cases  where  death  was  conclu- 
sively ascertained  to  be  the  result  of  violence  inflicted  by  human  agency.  I  went 
over  very  many  cases  where  the  verdict  was  "  from  causes  unknown,"  or  "  sup- 
posed drowning,"  or  "injuries  received  in  some  manner  unknown  ;  "  and,  giving 
humanity  the  benefit  of  the  doubt,  classed  them  all  as  accidents,  although  there  is 
eveiy  reason  to  believe  that  in  some  of  these  vague  surmises  of  juries  groping 
helplessly  for  facts,  homicides  are  hidden.  Nor  did  I  seek  to  swell  the  list  by 
including  among  the  homicides  the  nine  men  who  were  slain  in  the  Bayard 
street  riot  of  1857,  nor  the  ninety-four  who  were  found  by  the  juries  to  have  per- 
ished in  the  great  riots  of  1863.  The  table  does  include,  however,  seventy-four 
cases  of  infanticide,  and  it  is  a  terrible  proof  of  the  ease  and  safety  with  which 
this  crime  can  be  perpetrated  in  a  large  city,  that  in  only  thirteen  of  these  cases 
were  the  juries  able  to  discover  the  criminals. 

I  must  give  one  more  credit  to  humanity  and  say  that  only  a  very  small  per 
cent,  of  these  homicides  were  murders.  Some  of  the  affairs  bordered  closely 
upon  accidents,  others  were  kiUings  in  self-defence,  vind  very  few  of  them  ranked 
legally  above  manslaughter  in  the  first  degree. 

Homicidal  acts  in  the  metropolis  have  always  been  unartistic  and  hot- 
blooded,  as  is  conclusively  shown  by  the  weapons  used.  These  appear  upon 
the  record  to  have  been  fire-arms,  knives,  razors,  sword-canes,  swords,  cords, 
bludgeons,  bayonets,  cart-rungs,  tumblers,  bricks,  fire-tongs,  smoothing-irons, 
axes,  mallets,  hammers,  paving-stones,  glue-pots,  boot-heels,  and  once  the  point 
of  an  umbrella.  It  is  remarkable  that  only  eight  times  in  these  thirteen  years 
has  murder  been  artistically  done  by  poison,  and  more  singular  still  that  in  five 
of  these  cases  the  criminals  were  detected,  notwithstanding  the  popular  behef 
that  this  meanest  and  stealthiest  mode  of  feloniously  taking  life  is  also  the 
safest.  These  facts  make  it  apparent  that  while  the  average  of  homicides  in  New 
York  has  been  a  fraction  over  one  per  week  for  thirteen  years,  there  have  been 
comparatively  few  wilful  and  malicious  murders.  It  is  true  that  within  the 
period  examined  thirty-three  wives  were  slain  by  their  husbands,  but  even  in 
nearly  all  of  these  cases,  the  "malice  prepense,"  which  is  the  essential  ingredi- 
ment  of  murder,  and  the  sign  of  "the  wicked  and  depraved  heart"  required  by 
the  law,  was  wanting.  The  killings  by  persons  unknown  were  more  frequently 
wilful  than  in  the  other  class,  but  even  here  the  testimony  taken  by  the  coroners 
shows  that  the  purpose  to  take  life  often  was  not  mentally  formed  before  the 
deed  had  been  physically  accomplished. 

Deducting  the  sixty-one  infanticides  where  the  culprits  were  undiscovered, 
and  it  is  apparent  that  nine-two  adults  have,  in  thirteen  years,  met  violent 
deaths,  and  the  assailants  have  escaped  detection. 

Lest  some  devotee  of  proverbs  may  yet  insist  that  "  Murder  will  out,"  I  ap- 
pend some  facts  concerning  a  case  later  and  more  celebrated  than  any  yet  men- 
tioned. 


A  CELEBRATED   CRIME. 


NOTHING  so  startles  a  people  as  a  mysterious  homicide,  and  nothing  is 
more  ephemeral  in  its  interest.  The  cases  cited  have  not  more  com- 
pletely passed  out  of  the  public  mind  than  have  their  successors,  even  including 
the  great  case  of  1870,  known  as  the  Nathan  murder,  at  No.  12  West  23d  street, 
which  occurred  between  the  hours  of  12:30  and  3  o'clock  A.  M.  of  Friday,  July  29, 
and  which,  from  the  character  of  its  victim  and  its  startling  incidents,  became  a 
celebrated  crime.  Everywhere  it  was  for  many  days  the  prevailing  topic  of 
conversatioi',  and  the  columns  of  the  leading  journals  of  the  country  were  al- 
most monoi-K)lized  with  the  statement  and  discussion  of  its  facts.  There  was 
nothing  in  tlie  popular  interest  to  indicate  any  morbid  taste  for  the  horrible,  but 
the  universal  excitement  caused  by  the  event  was  due  to  the  fact  that  it  appealed 
with  irresistible  force  to  the  fears  of  every  individual.  It  was  a  foul  murder  done 
in  the  presumed  security  of  the  home  of  the  victim,  and  no  man  could  be  sure 
that  he  would  not  next  be  sacrificed  to  secure  the  safety  of  prowling  brutality. 

Having  briefly  given  the  leading  facts  of  the  murder,  so  that  subsequent 
revelations  can  be  understood,  it  is  my  main  purpose  to  relate  the  thus  far  un- 
successful groping  of  the  police  for  the  assassin.  The  narrative  will  offer  cumu- 
lative evidence  that  murder  will  not  "out"  at  any  man's  bidding;  but  on  the 
contrary,  that  when  unwitnessed,  if  the  murderer  leaves  no  positive  proof  of 
his  identity  behind  him,  ingenuity  and  energy  are  frequently  powerless  to  make 
it  out. 

Benjamin  Nathan  was  a  millionaire  of  New  York,  well  known  and  highly  es- 
teemed for  his  personal  qualities.  Descended  from  an  old  Jewish  Portuguese 
family,  he  was  a  native  of  New  York,  as  his  father  had  been  before  him.  Born  to 
opulence  and  correct  principles,  he  had  added  to  the  one,  and  closely  adhered 
to  the  other,  through  his  life  of  fifty-six  years.  An  Israelite  in  his  faith,  he  was 
catholic  in  his  sympathies,  and  gave  of  his  abundance  to  the  needy  of  all  creeds. 
A  man  of  culture  and  refined  tastes,  he  moved  in  intelligent  and  accomplished  so- 
ciety. The  peaceful  and  natural  death  of  such  a  man  would  have  caused  public 
expression  of  sorrow  ;  but  when  his  son,  who  went  to  his  bedroom  at  6  o'clock 
in  the  morning  to  call  him  to  a  devotional  duty  of  the  day,  found  him  lying  upon 
the  floor  bloody  and  mangled  out  of  semblance  to  his  kind,  with  nine  gaping 
wounds  upon  his  head,  it  is  not  surprising  that  there  was  a  general  cry  of  horror, 
and  that  the  people  with  one  voice  demanded  the  capture  and  punishment  of 
the  murderer. 

Superintendent  Jourdan  and  Captain  Kelso,  who  immediately  took  personal 
charge  of  the  case,  saw  all  its  difficulties  at  a  glance.  In  some  respects  the 
crime  told  its  own  story  too  distinctly  for  Jourdan,  who  years  ago  became  known 
as  the  keenest  detective  on  the  continent,  to  believe  himself  mistaken  as  to 
the  leading  facts.  It  was  plain  to  him  that  the  event  had  lifted  a  criminal  from 
ordinary  larceny  to  a  murder  of  rarely  par.'illeled  brutality.  Intent  only  upon  theft, 
the  intruder  rifled  the  clothes  of  the  sleeping  man,  which  lay  on  a  chair  remote 
from  the  bed,  of  a  Perregaux  watch,  No.  5,657,  three  diamond  shirt  studs,  what 
money  liie  pocket-book  contained,  and  the  key  of  the  small  safe  which  stood  in 


A  CELEBRATED  CRIME.  177 

the  library  beside  the  door  opening  into  the  bedroom.  Going  to  the  safe,  he 
knelt  down  before  it,  opened  it,  and  began  his  examination  of  its  contents. 
Some  noise  he  made  awakened  Mr.  Nathan,  who  sprang  from  his  bed,  and  the 
thief  springing  up  at  the  same  moment,  the  two  men  met  in  the  doorway,  the 
face  of  the  thief  being  brought  into  bold  relief  by  the  gaslight  to  his  left.  Not 
knowing  of  Mr.  Nathan's  defective  vision,  he  saw  himself  identified,  and  believ- 
ing his  retreat  cut  oflf,  he  struck  savagely  at  Mr.  Nathan  with  a  short  iron  bar 
turned  at  the  ends,  which  soon  became  famous  as  a  ship  carpenter's  "dog." 
From  this  point  there  is  a  succession  of  enigmas  until  the  assassin  left  the  room, 
after  rifling  the  safe  of  whatever  portable  valuables  it  contained.  Carrying  the 
"  dog,"  he  went  stealthily  downstairs,  unfastened  the  front  door,  which  had  been 
carefully  secured  at  12:20  o'clock  A.  M.,  laid  the  "dog"  down  on  the  hall  floor, 
and  passed  out  into  the  street.  From  this  point  there  are  other  enigmas,  but 
not  so  baffling  as  those  within  the  house. 

The  weapon  and  the  unnecessary  brutality  were  the  chief  difficulties.  There 
were  puzzling  questions  as  to  how  the  outlaw  had  entered  the  house,  as  to  the 
manner  in  which  the  blows  had  been  given,  as  to  how  the  stricken  man  had  fall- 
en, as  to  how  the  blood  smears  had  got  upon  the  wall  and  door-casing,  with 
others  of  less  interest;  but  none  of  these  were  vital  to  the  pursuit,  and  they  were 
considered  more  as  a  relaxation  from  the  weightier  matters  involved  than  for 
their  intrinsic  importance.  The  weapon  was,  as  Jourdan  remarked,  the  "great 
puzzler."  Had  any  ordinary  burglar's  tool  been  used,  or  the  instrument  been 
one  that  any  thief  of  high  or  low  degree  had  ever  been  known  to  use,  the  case 
would  have  been  clearer,  and  Jourdan  would  have  known  what  sink  of  iniquity 
to  stir  in  order  to  start  the  murderer;  but  this  "dog,"  whose  appearance  in- 
dicated long  use  in  its  legitimate  sphere,  led  only  into  the  mechanical  world,  and 
widened  the  circle  of  inquiry  from  tens  to  tens  of  thousands.  But  paralyzed  as 
the  detectives  were  by  the  "dog,"  the  effect  of  that  mangled  corpse  in  the  same 
way  was  scarcely  less.  Rarely  had  murder  been  more  cruelly  done,  and  never 
since  Bartholomew  Burke  was  found  with  his  body  gashed  by  thirty-six  wounds 
had  the  police  been  confronted  with  a  sight  so  horrible.  Jourdan,  looking  upon 
such  a  sight  as  this,  asked  what  burglar  or  sneak-thief  would  have  wasted  time 
and  courted  destruction  by  work  like  this,  but  found  no  answer  in  his  long  expe- 
rience or  intimate  knowledge  of  the  habits  and  impulses  of  outlaws. 

There  were  other  baffling  facts  encountered  at  the  outset  of  the  investigation, 
secondary  in  importance  it  is  true,  but  of  such  gravity  that  in  ordinary  cases 
they  would  be  considered  insuperable  obstacles.  Groping  his  way  from  the  time 
and  place  of  the  murder,  Jourdan  speedily  found  that  prior  to  the  crime  no  one 
had  been  seen  lurking  about  the  house  who  could  be  connected  in  any  way  with 
the  deed.-  Again,  there  were  no  marks  of  violence  upon  the  house.  There  was 
nowhere  the  faintest  trace  of  a  "jimmy"  upon  a  door  or  window,  nor  any  sign 
discernible  of  a  burglarious  entrance.  Nor  had  the  murderer  left  any  trace  of  his 
personality,  except  that  perplexing  "dog."  Not  a  scrap  of  his  clothing  had 
been  torn  from  him  to  tell  the  tale  of  his  identity,  nor  had  he  left  anywhere 
in  the  house  the  imprint  of  either  his  hand  or  foot.  Attempting  to  glean 
something  of  value  from  the  time  intervening  between  the  murder  and  the 
moment  of  its  discovery,  Jourdan  found  ftothing  but  a  doubt  and  another  perplexity 
The  policeman  upon  the  post  persisted  resolutely  in  declaring  under  oath,  that 
when  he  passed  the  house  at  4:30  A.  M.  he  tried  both  front  doors,  and  they  were 
fastened  ;  and  when  he  passed  again  a  little  before  6  o'clock,  he  noticed  that  the 
hall  door  was  closed.     There  was  positive  and  stronger  evidence,  however,  that 


178  THE  NETHER    SIDE   OF  NEW  YORK. 

the  door  was  not  only  unlocked  but  partly  open  at  least  an  hour  before  the 
murder  was  discovered.  The  testimony  on  this  point  also  introduced  a  mail  in 
laboring  dress,  carrying  a  dinner  pail,  who  at  5  o'clock  ascended  the  steps  of 
tlie  house,  and,  having  picked  up  a  paper  from  the  topmost  step,  went  on  his 
way.     That  man  and  tiiat  paper  at  once  became  and  yet  are  mysteries. 

It  will  be  seen  that  Superintendent  Jourdan  had  only  negations  to  go  upon. 
As  a  first  and  obvious  step,  the  house  was  thoroughly  searched,  first  for  signs 
of  the  murderer,  and,  these  failing,  for  the  missing  property.  From  cellar  to 
garret  it  was  thoroughly  examined,  even  to  the  furniture  and  carpets.  But  noth- 
ing was  found.  Next  the  water-tank  was  emptied,  without  result ;  and  lastly  the 
waste-pipes  of  the  closets  and  wash-basins  were  flushed,  and  the  street  sewers 
carefully  examined  for  a  long  distance  in  all  directions,  but  no  trace  of  the  articles 
was  found.  Absolute  proof  having  thus  been  obtained  that  the  missing  proper- 
ty of  the  murdered  man  had  been  carried  from  the  house  on  the  person  of  the 
murderer,  Jourdan  next  caused  the  flooring  of  the  stable  to  be  taken  up  and  the 
edges  of  the  boards  to  be  examined  by  experts  to  determine  whether  such  an 
instrument  as  the  "dog"  had  been  used  in  putting  it  down.  He  received  a 
negative  reply. 

Now,  Washington  and  Frederick  Nathan,  sons  of  the  deceased,  Mrs.  Kelly, 
the  housekeeper,  and  William  Kelly,  her  adult  son,  were  sleeping  in  the  house 
when  the  murder  was  committed,  and  their  sleep  was  undisturbed  throughout 
the  night  by  anj'  suspicious  or  unusual  sound.  All  of  the  search  of  the  house 
which  has  been  referred  to  was  accomplished  without  the  knowledge  of  its  inmates, 
who  were  separately  subjected  to  a  rigid  examination.  As  the  result  of  all  this 
labor.  Captain  Kelso,  standing  at  the  side  of  the  murdered  man,  said  to  Super- 
intendent Jourdan,  "An  outsider?"  and  the  Chief  answered  decisively,  "No 
doubt  of  it."  There  was  the  gratifying  fact,  however,  that  the  ofiicials,  within 
six  hours  from  the  discovery  of  the  crime,  were  in  possession  of  various  facts 
subsequently  developed  on  the  inquest,  which  completely  exonerated  all  the  in- 
mates from  any  suspicion  of  complicity  in  the  deed.  There  was  no  reasonable 
ground  for  suspecting  any  of  them  ;  but  as  the  police  were  confronted  at  once 
with  the  tragedy  and  a  strange  family,  they  were  of  course  compelled  to  closely 
scrutinize  the  character  and  antecedents  of  all  those  who  were  in  the  house  at 
the  time. 

There  were  blotches  of  blood  upon  the  night-gown  of  Frederick  Nathan,  and 
his  socks  were  soaked  in  blood  ;  but  it  was  plain  that  these  stains  resulted  from 
contact  with  the  corpse  after  his  brother  had  discovered  it.  It  was  equally  plain 
that  the  few  faint  imprints  of  bloody  feet  upon  the  stairs,  which  the  newspapers 
made  vastly  more  numerous  and  conspicuous  than  the  reality,  were  made  by  him 
as  he  ran  down  to  the  street  with  his  brother  to  give  the  alarm.  There  were 
many  little  circumstances  connected  with  both  the  young  men  and  the  two 
Kellys,  which  to  jealous  minds  might  be,  and  did  become,  "  confirmation  strong 
as  proofs  of  Holy  Writ,"  but,  put  into  the  crucible  of  detective  experience,  evap- 
orated into  utter  nothingness  ;  and  before  the  murder  was  a  day  old  all  of  the 
inmates,  in  the  minds  of  those  familiar  with  the  case,  were  as  completely  cleared 
of  all  suspicion  as  they  soon  afterwards  became  in  the  public  mind,  after  passing 
through  a  terrible  ordeal  of  suspected  guilt. 

Out,  therefore,  into  the  whole  wide  world,  the  officials  were  forced  to  project 
the  appliances  of  detection,  with  the  hope  of  discovering  the  assassin.  Instant- 
ly all  the  police  force  of  the  city  was  set  to  work  watching  the  pawn  shops  and 
jewelry  stores  for  the  appearance  of  the  stolen  property,  and  searching  all  ship 


A  CELEBRATED  CRIME.  179 

and  beat  yards  for  the  identification  of  the  "dog."  This  hiljor  was  also  gradually 
extended  into  almost  every  department  of  mechanics,  as  the  "dog"  was  in  the 
end  claimed  as  a  tool  of  almost  every  trade.  According  to  the  confident  asser- 
tions palmed  upon  the  police,  it  may  have  been  used  by  ship-carpenters,  boat- 
builders,  post-trimmers,  ladder-makers,  slaters,  pump-makers,  sawyers,  scene- 
shifters  in  theatres,  or  by  iron-moulders  as  a  clamp  for  flasks  ;  and  lastly  one  per- 
son wanted  all  rag-pickers  held  for  the  crime  because  he  was  sure  the  so-called 
"dog"  was  the  hook  of  one  of  that  fraternity.  It  is  plain,  therefore,  that  an  in- 
strument that  might  have  been  used  by  any  one  of  these  craftsmen,  must  have 
led  the  detectives  into  an  inexhaustible  field  for  search. 

That  the  missing  property  was  not  discovered  was  due  solely  to  the  prudence 
of  the  assassin.  He  could  have  offered  none  of  the  articles  for  sale  without  de- 
tection, so  close  was  the  surveillance  in  regard  to  them.  A  mistake  was  indeed 
made  by  the  family  in  the  first  list  furnished  the  police  of  what  had  been  taken  ; 
but  it  was  soon  rectified  and  a  correct  statement  given  to  the  public,  Jourdan  say- 
ing, with  rare  common-sense  for  a  policeman,  that  there  could  not  be  too  many 
people  looking  out  for  these  things.  But  although  the  watch  has  been  strict  and 
incessant  up  to  the  present  writing,  no  trace  of  any  of  the  articles  has  been 
found,  and  it  is  evident  that  the  assassin  has  either  thrown  them  away  so  that 
they  shall  never  be  found,  or,  if  more  covetous  than  sensible,  has  secreted  them  to 
await  disposition  when  the  excitement  shall  have  died  away.  It  seems  almost 
morally  certain,  however,  that  they  never  reached  the  channels  of  habitual  crime, 
as  these  were  thoroughly  searched  for  them,  and  moreover  every  known  or 
suspected  criminal  in  New  York  was  required  to  account  for  himself  during  the 
night  of  the  murder.  The  thieves  were  never  so  overhauled  before,  and  never 
was  there  such  a  sudden  and  universal  hegira  of  the  professionals  from  the  city ; 
nor  has  there  ever  been  of  late  years  so  little  crime  in  New  York  as  during  the 
ten  days  succeeding  the  Twenty-third  street  atrocity. 

The  power  of  money  was  added  to  detective  acumen  as  an  additional  means 
to  drag  the  murderer  from  his  hiding  place,  and  the  second  proclamation  issued  by 
Mayor  Hall  offered  large  rewards,  which  were  adroitly  divided  to  make  the  most 
of  every  chance  of  finding  a  clue  to  the  assassin  ;  but  although  supplemented  by 
the  offer  of  $10,000  reward  by  the  New  York  Stock  Exchange,  of  which  Mr.  Na- 
than had  been  a  member  for  thirty  years,  they  all  remained  unproductive.  Yet 
it  was  not  for  lack  of  knowledge  of  the  money  to  be  given  for  information,  for 
never  were  rewards  brought  so  generally  to  public  knowledge.  They  were 
posted  in  huge  placards  all  over  the  city,  and  were  sent  in  multitudes  in  small 
hand-bills  all  over  the  country.  Never  was  a  criminal  more  earnestly  and  intel- 
ligently sought  for  than  in  this  case,  and  never  was  a  search  more  barren  of  results. 

The  pursuit  certainly  did  not  fail  for  lack  of  popular  assistance,  as  Superin- 
tendent Jourdan  was  in  constant  receipt,  for  many  days  after  the  murder,  of  let- 
ters from  all  sorts  of  people  in  all  kinds  of  places,  which  contained  every  variety 
of  hints,  theories,  and  supposed  information.  Some  few  of  these  missives  were 
olainly  dictated  by  an  earnest  and  disinterested  desire  that  the  murderer  should 
be  apprehended,  and  a  sincere  purpose  to  aid  in  the  efforts  to  that  end.  But  of 
such  there  were  very  few.  The  perusal  of  these  hundreds  of  letters  would  do 
much  to  convert  the  most  skeptical  to  a  belief  in  the  original  depravity  and  in- 
nate stupidity  of  mankind.  Such  eagerness  to  accuse  personal  foes  of  a  most  hei- 
nous crime,  such  assumptions  of  superior  capacity,  and  such  extreme  desire  to 
extract  a  little  individual  profit  out  of  blood  so  wofully  shed,  I  never  saw  before 
and  do  not  desire  to  see  again.     There  was  indeed  a  satisfaction  in  finding  that 


r8c  THE  NETHER  SIDE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

only  lliree  persons  in  all  the  nation  proposed  that  the  murderer  sliould  be  hunted 
down  by  bloodhounds,  and  offered  to  furnish  the  animals  for  that  purpose.  It 
was  some  comfort  to  make  the  most  of  this  comparatively  encouraging  fact,  as  I 
found  few  others  even  negatively  good.  There  was  one  fellow,  determined  to  do 
his  utmost  to  destroy  a  business  rival  or  personal  foe,  continually  writing  that  a 
Pine  street  broker  whom  he  named  ought  to  be  watched,  and  finally  demanding 
his  arrest  and  openly  charging  him  with  the  murder.  Another  of  comprehensive 
malice  advanced  his  theory  and  vented  his  spleen  thus  : 

Dear  Sir  :  All  stock  brokers  are  scoundrels.  I  have  only  met  with  one  exception  in 
all  my  experience.  I  am  satisfied  some  miserable  stock  broker  or  operator  has  murdered 
Mr*  Nathan.  The  idea  of  a  sneak-thief  or  burglar  is  simply  absurd.  Mr.  Nathan  may 
have  been  honest ;  if  he  was,  he  was  surrounded  on  all  sides  with  rascals,  and  he  held  some 
papers  in  his  safe  which  some  scoundrel  wanted.  To  get  at  these  papers  he  killed  Mr. 
N.  What  those  papers  were  I  haven't  the  slightest  idea.  Now  watch  every  member  or 
any  one  connected  directly  or  indirectly  with  the  Stock  Exchange. 

Roberto. 

There  were  scores  of  letters  insisting  upon  the  guiltof  one  of  the  sons  or  of 
Kelly,  and  indignantly  demanding  their  arrest,  and  there  was  even  an  attempt  to 
frighten  Mrs.  Kelly  into  believing  that  she  was  suspected,  as  she  received  the 
following  note  through  the  post-office  : 

They  have  found  out  that  you  kncno  tnore  than  you  tell.  This  makes  you  an  accessory 
or  party  to  the  crime.  To  hide  anything  is  criminal.  Your  only  hope  is  to  tell  before 
you're  arrested. 

There  were  many  clumsy  and  malicious  attempts  to  aid  in  fastening  suspicion 
upon  the  young  Nathans  ;  one  of  the  most  clumsy  and  despicable  of  which  was 
a  letter  addressed  to  Washington  Nathan  and  dropped  in  the  street  so  that  it 
should  reach  Jourdan's  eyes.     It  reads  thus  : 

Mr.  W.  Nathun.  Deer  Sur:  In  reply  to  your  Request,  all  I  have  got  to  say  is 
that  if  you  will  not  do  it,  why,  I  won't  of  course  ;  for  I  don't  want  to  have  my  hand  in  the 
Bloody  Work.     Hoping  for  a  reply,  I  remain  yours, 

C.  Edward. 

But  the  meanest  of  all  these  missives,  because  of  its  speculative  purpose, 
read  thus : 

Wash:  Jourdan  has  just  received  damning  proofs.  I  am  inemi)loy.  The  city  is  not 
a  safe  place.     I  hope  for  a  reward  when  all  has  blown  over.     In  haste, 

A  Friend. 

A  quack  doctor,  holding  the  rules  of  spelling  and  the  detectives  in  equal  and 
utter  contempt,  sent  this,  with  his  name  signed  and  his  business  card  enclosed: 

Boston,  August  4,  187a 
To  the  Chief  of  Police  New  York. 

Sir:  I  am  of  the  opinion  that  the  detectives  know  that  Washington  Nathan  committed 
the  murder  upon  his  father  and  the  merderer  can  pay  twice  the  amount  of  the  reward  of- 
fered to  serene  himself.  Why  has  the  detectives  not  obtaned  a  serch  warrent  and  serched 
the  whole  and  of  Washington  affects  in  the  city  and  out  of  the  city.  If  what  has'been 
stated  is  true  a  jury  would  convict  W —  Nathan.  As  I  look  a'  things  the  detectives  have 
done  not  a  thing  to  bring  the  merder  to  punishment. 

Your  &Ce. 

Another,  sharing  in  the  general  curiosity  to  discover  how  the  assassin  en- 
tered the  house,  sent  the  following: 

Sunday  Evening,  July  31,  1S70. 
Dear  Sir:  Passing  the  house  of  Mr.  Nathan  this  afternoon,  my  attention  was  especial- 
ly drawn  toward  the  front  portico  over  the  steps.     It  seemed  easy  to  my  eye  for  a  person 
to  climb  to  the  window  of  the  room  over  the  front  door.     There  is  a  narrow  mouldinti  or 


A  CELEBRATED  CRIME.  i8i 

ihdf,  may  be  two  or  three  inches  in  width,  on  the  front  of  No.  14,  which  ends  about  half 
the  height  of  Mr.  Nathan's  portico.  A  person  could,  by  using  this  shelf  and  holding  to 
the  columns  of  the  portico,  swing  himself  on  top  of  the  same.  Once  there,  an  entrance 
through  the  library  window  would  seem  an  easy  matter,  especially  if  the  window  had  been 
left  unfastened.  If  you  will  have  the  goodness  to  examine  the  front  of  No.  14,  you  will,  I 
think,  notice  a  marlc  or  marks  of  a  boot  or  scrape  on  the  brpwn-stone  front  of  the  building. 
I  noticed  such  a  mark  this  afternoon,  but  the  officers  in  front  of  the  building  not  allowin"- 
any  one  to  halt,  I  thought  I  would  address  you  a  line  calling  your  attention  to  this. 

Yours  truly, 

J.   B.  H. 
Supermtendent  John  Jourdan. 

The  way  by  which  the  assassin  entered  the  house  is  yet  a  matter  of  theory ; 
but  the  police,  for.  reasons  that  do  not  seem  conclusive,  have  rejected  the  hypo- 
thesis presented  in  this  letter,  and  the  weight  of  opinion  among  them  seems 
inclined  in  favor  of  the  basement  door,  which  is  supposed  to  have  been  acci- 
dentally left  unlocked. 

There  was  another  class  of  letters  dealing  in  personalities,  which  it  was  evi- 
dent were  dictated  either  by  an  honest  purpose  to  aid  the  authorities,  or  an  in- 
tense desire  to  get  an  enemy  into  trouble.  These  were  the  letters  from  all  parts 
of  the  country  detailing  the  sudden  appearance  of  suspicious  persons  in  the  lo- 
calities of  the  writers.  It  is  marvellous  how  many  inen  of  hang-dog  faces  and 
sneaking  demeanor  were  to  be  found  just  after  the  murder.  One  was  seen  in  a 
far-off  town  of  Michigan,  who  it  was  subsequently  found  had  never  been  in  New 
York  at  all,  nor  done  a  dishonest  act  in  his  life.  An  old  lady  summering  at 
Greenwich,  Conn.,  wrote  of  the  arrival  at  her  hotel  in  a  buggy  of  a  man  and  wom- 
an who  "  behaved  queerly."  Although  her  honesty  was  apparent  in  every  line, 
she  had  encountered  nothing  more  serious  than  a  taciturn  gentleman  and  a 
lady  in  a  fit  of  sulks.  A  barber  in  Jersey  City  wrote  to  say,  that  on  the  day  Mr. 
Nathan  was  killed  two  suspicious-looking  men  came  to  his  shop.  One  got  shaved 
and  had  kis  hair  cut,  and  the  other,  the  hardest-looking  one  of  the  two,  got  his  hair 
cut  only.  But  this,  and  the  fact  that  they  said  they  were  going  to  "  Cincinatj'," 
were  the  only  suspicious  circumstances  mentioned.  A  gentleman  of  Princeton, 
N.  J.,  wrote  of  a  young  man  appearing  at  his  door  Sunday  morning,  who  was 
respectably  dressed,  but  "seemed  shy,  and  said  he  was  going  to  Philadelphia,  but 
had  no  money.  .  Some  of  the  family  remarked,  '  His  hands  are  stained,'  and  an- 
other said,  '  With  blackberries  ; '  he  then  drew  them  down  and  muttered,  '  Black- 
berries.'" This  pilgrim  with  the  stained  hands  was  "so  exceedingly  reticent," 
and  "  his  appearance  so  genteel,  and  his  manner  so  false,"  that  he  must  per- 
force be  the  Nathan  murderer.  A  gentleman  at  Amenia,  N.  Y.,  told  how  he  was 
reading  the  account  of  the  murder  on  Saturday  at  the  depot  when  a  stranger 
asked,  "  What  is  the  news  from  the  city  to-day  ?"  to  which  he  answered,  "  Noth- 
ing in  particular;"  but  the  stranger  looking  at  him  inquiringly,  he  said  further, 
'•  There  has  been  a  shocking  murder  of  a  prominent  citizen  of  New  York."  Tlie 
stranger,  however,  manifested  no  surprise  and  asked  no  more  questions.  The 
reader  concluded  he  had  read  the  account,  and  proceeded  to  remark  on  the  bold- 
ness and  object  of  the  crime,  and  mentioned  the  name  of  the  murdered  man,  when 
the  stranger,  "  without  saying  he  was  acquainted  with  the  family,  or  making  any 
other  remark,  said,  '  Is  it  the  old  man  Nathan  ? '  and  in  nearly  the  same  breatli 
asked  if  there  was  any  war  news."  In  many  ways  his  behavior  was  singular, 
and  he  departed  abruptly  and  without  apparent  cause  on  a  southern  train  a  few 
minutes  later.  Next  day  he  got  into  jail  in  a  neighboring  town  as  the  Nathan 
assassin,  but  proved  to  be  only  a  harmless  lunatic. 

Strangest  of  all  the  stories  of  suspicious  appearances,  was  that  whicli  came 


l82  THE  xVETHER    SIDE    OF  NEW  YORK. 

OiHci;ilIy  from  the  detective  department  of  tlie  Philadelphia  police,  in  a  letter  tell- 
in<;of  "a  man  lurking  in  a  thinly  populated  part  of  our  city,  under  circumt-lances 
of  a  very  suspicious  character.  He  was  first  seen  on  Saturday  asleep  in  a  cornel 
of  a  field,  and  was  then  lost  sight  of  until  Monday  afternoon.  Some  two  miles 
away  from  the  first  place  mentioned,  he  was  then  seen  to  emerge  from  some  bushes 
near  the  side  of  a  road,  and'  also  close  to  a  railroad  bridge.  He  requested  of  a 
party  passing  by  the  loan  of  a  newspaper.  One  of  them  had  one  and  handed  it  to 
him,  which  he  read,  and  at  once  proceeded  to  talk  about  the  Nathan  murder. 
While  he  was  reading  he  showed  signs  of  being  greatly  agitated,  and  in  the 
midst  of  the  account  a  train  of  cars  appeared  in  sight,  and  without  notice  he 
jumped  behind  some  bushes  and  concealed  himself;  after  the  train  passed  he 
reappeared,  and  when  questioned  about  his  strange  conduct  said  that  some  of 
his  friends  from  New  York,  which  place  he  left  on  Friday,  might  be  on  the  train, 
and  he  did  not  care  they  should  see  him  in  his  sad  condition."  This  man  had 
stockings  "  with  marks  of  blood  upon  them,"  and  on  his  trousers  were  "  spots,  ap- 
parently blood."  He  also  wore  three  studs,  supposed  to  be  diamonds,  and  a 
watch  and  chain,  the  chain  partly  concealed.  The  Philadelphia  police  were 
firmly  convinced  that  this  was  the  murderer,  and  out  of  these  circumstances 
grew  the  report  so  widely  published  of  the  arrest  of  the  assassin  in  that  city. 
The  story  originated  with  two  bricklayers,  and  they  telling  it  to  a  detective,  that 
officer  rushed  oif  and  gave  it  to  the  newspapers  as  a  first  means  of  arresting  the 
suspected.  Naturally  enough,  nothing  more  was  ever  seen  or  heard  of  the  man 
of  the  bushes  and  spots  of  blood. 

One  last  case  of  this  kind  is  given  in  the  following  : 

Reading,  Aug.  3,  1870. 
Dect.  Jordan,  New  York. 

Der  Sir  :  Last  Saturday  afternoon  a  young  man  arrived  in  this  town. 

He  was  small — a  little  below  medium  height — weight  about  135  or  40  lbs — had  on 
a  gray  suit  with  light  cap.  Had  a  large  amount  of  money — Two  large  rolls  of  bills 
one  of  large  denomination — some  being  50's.  His  conduct  appeerd  strange  to  the 
writer.  He  evidently  did  not  earn  his  money  by  work  by  the  manner  he  exhibited  and 
spent  it  treating  every  one — He  arrived  here  about  4  or  5  O'clok  in  afternoon  and  left  in 
a  few  hours  faying  he  was  going  to  Phila  for  a  few  days  from  there  to  New  York  stay  a 
month  and  then  to  Europe— He  stopped  at  a  relatives — a  german  watchmaker  in  Penn  St 
North  side  a  little  above  8th.  the  few  hours  he  was  here — he  accompanny  him  to  depot. 
He  said  he  had  worked  nothing  for  five  years  and  had  just  come  from  the  plains.  Why 
should  he  stay  so  short  a  time  with  his  relatives  here  1  Why  such  rough  hands  if  only 
traveling  ? 

There  were  scores  of  letters  purporting  to  give  information,  and  of  these  only 
those  confined  to  the  "dog"  were  found  to  be  of  value.  The  others  either  re- 
lated to  matters  of  which  the  authorities  were  more  fully  informed  than  the  writ- 
ers, or  made  distinct  assertions  which  were  subsequently,  after  a  vast  deal  of  la- 
bor, found  to  be  unqualifiedly  false.  A  single  specimen  of  this  class  must  suf- 
fice, and  here  it  is  : 
To  Superintendent  J.  Jourdan. 

Sir:  The  murderer  and  an  accomplice  of  Nathan  can  be  found  in  a  street  between 
Norfolk  and  Clinton,  and  between  Houston  and  the  Tenth  Ward,  not  far  from  an  old 
slaughter-house.  Part  of  the  missed  articles  can  be  found  in  the  sub-cellar  of  what  was  once 
a  packing-house.  I  would  like  to  make  the  rewards,  but  dare  not  give  my  name  for  fear 
of  revenge. 

Such  letters  as  this — of  which  there  were  several,  but  all  the  others  relating 
to  the  stolen  articles  exclusively — added  greatly  to  the  labors  of  the  case,  as  in 
everv  instance  detectives  were  detailed  to  exhaust  the  matter ;  for  Jourdan  was 


A  CELEBRATED  CRIME.  183 

determined  to  neglect  no  chance,  however  remote,  and  would  not  turn  a  deaf  ear 
to  any  plausible  story,  however  disreputable  its  origin.  Some  of  these  letters, 
however,  received  no  other  attention  than  a  contemptuous  smile,  as  was  the  case 
with  that  of  the  individual  who,  believing  the  sensational  story  of  the  three 
bloody  finger-marks  on  the  Nathan  wall,  told  where  the  man  with  the  fourth  fin- 
ger missing  who  had  made  those  marks  could  be  found.  As  there  were  no  fin- 
ger-marks whatever  in  the  Nathan  house,  the  joke  was  a  failure. 

Jourdan,  however,  had  most  amateur  assistance  in  the  formation  of  theories 
of  tlie  murder.  It  is  amazing  how  many  born  detectives  there  are  in  the  coun- 
try unappreciated.  These  geniuses  rushed  boldly  forward  on  this  occasion  to 
prove  their  value  to  the  police  service — some  of  them,  it  must  be  added,  claim- 
ing pay  for  ability  they  rated  so  highly.  In  all  these  scores  of  theories  and  sug- 
gestions there  was  little  that  was  original  and  nothing  that  was  valuable.  The 
most  of  them  presumed  the  guilt  of  one  of  the  inmates,  thus  naturally  assuming 
the  most  obvious  and  least  tenable  theory  of  the  case  ;  and  floundering  as  all  did 
in  partial  knowledge  of  the  facts,  their  deductions  were  invariably  erroneous. 
The  bulk  of  the  letters  of  this  class  suggested  that  the  missing  property  would 
be  found  in  the  waste-pipes  of  the  house,  but  none  of  tliem  were  received  until 
after  Jourdan  had  exhausted  the  possibility.  Some,  however,  were  more  orig- 
inal, as  that  of  one  citizen  suggested  that  the  "murder  was  committed  by  a  man 
whose  object  was  to  find  among  the  papers  in  the  victim's  pocket-book  or  safe 
the  record  of  the  combination-lock  of  the  Broad  street  safe,  witli  a  view  to  its 
robbery.  .  .  .  Having  been  discovered  by  Mr.  Nathan,  he  killed  him  be- 
cause he  was  known  to  him."  Two  persons  desired  that  the  eyes  of  the  mur- 
dered man  should  be  examined  for  the  image  of  the  murderer.  It  is  proper  to 
say  that  this  was  not  done,  for  the  reason  that  Jourdan  had  no  faith  in  the  expe- 
dient, as  it  had  before  failed  in  his  experience.  One  person  in  Buff'alo,  who  was 
not  ashamed  to  sign  his  full  name,  wrote  thus : 

I  will  not  review  anything,  but  simply  state  that  by  some  means  I  am  aware  that  the 
murderer  is  still  in  New  York  on  a  sick  bed.  He  has  either  red  or  brown  hair,  is  of  mid- 
dle age^  stout  built,  and  no  acquaintance  of  Mr.  Nathan.  He  struck  so  terribly  only  out 
of  fright,  not  from  hatred.  His  having  so  much  money,  he  will  not  dispose  of  the  watches. 
He  will  work  hard  to  shift  the  crime  upon  the  shoulders  of  another.  The  only  available 
means  to  throw  him  off  his  guard  is  a  sham  arrest  and  trial  of  some  trustworthy  individual, 
which  can  easily  be  accomplished  as  there  is  so  much  money  offered.  This  shani  is  to  be 
kept  from  the  knowledge  of  the  public.  Let  the  person  tried  be  condemned  and  the  exe- 
curion  be  indefinitely  postponed.     Then  hush  about  all  and  keep  a  wary  eye  everywhere. 

Another,  with  an  eye  to  the  dramatic,  had  faith  in  the  exactly  opposite  course, 
and  sent  the  following  without  date  or  signature  : 

I  propose ;  that,  when  the  Inquest  draws  to  a  close,  and  there  remains  no  evidence  sufi- 
cient  to  hold  any  one  (although  there  may  or  may  not  be  suspicions),  That  something 
like  the  following  course  be  pursued — While  an  unimportant  witness  is  on  the  stand,  the 
Inquest  to  be  adjourned,  in  this  way :  some  one  of  position,  as  a  detective.  Captain  of  Po- 
lice or  other  proper  person,  shall  interupt  the  inquest  by  wispering,  in  an  earnest  and  mis- 
terious  way  to  the  Coroner — The  Coroner  shall  then  adjourn  the  inquest.  Meanwhile  by 
the  proper  person  and  in  a  proper  way,  it  must  Jie  intimated  to  the  whole  party  assembled 
especialy  to  the  reporters  of  the  press,  That  the  Detectives  have  struck  a  trail — certain^ 
thure,  infalible!  That  they  can  lay  their  hands  on  the  criminal  at  a  moments  notice.  That 
they  ask  for  a  little  time,  merly  to  suround  the  case  with  the  proper  evidence,  So  that 
when  they  bring  their  man,  conviction  will  come  with  him.  And  meanwhile,  every  move- 
ment of  the  guilty  party  is  being  closely  watched  so  that  he  canot  escape.  It  must  be 
broadly  intimated  that  the  vtost  cuning  criminal  is  shure  to  forget  something,  that  something 
itas  been  discovered.     All  this  with  startling  coments  will  be  published  in  the  papers.     The 


i84  THE  NETHER  SIDE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

guilty  party  will  believe  himself  to  be  watched,  and  if  there  is  anything  the  least  bit  human 
in  him,  it  is  likely  he  will  expose  himself  by  some  strange  action. 

Out  of  all  these  letters  Superintendent  Jourdan  gleaned  nothing  of  use  but 
the  information  before  referred  to  as  to  the  various  trades  in  which  the  "dog" 
may  have  been  used.  There  was  yet  another  class  of  letters  calling  upon  him  to 
invoke  the  supernatural  to  solve  the  mystery  of  the  murder,  and  giving  him  the 
benefit  of  dreams.  These  were  not  numerous,  but,  coming  as  they  all  did  from 
the  great  cities,  are  suggestive  of  the  superstition  yet  existing  in  the  centres  of 
civilization.  "  An  Interested  Reader  of  the  Particulars  "  announced  that  "  a  lady 
in  Brooklyn  wishes  you  to  consult  a  clairvoyant  with  regard  to  the  horrible  Na- 
than murder.  She  has  known  wonderful  disclosures  in  that  way."  A  gentle- 
man doing  business  in  Broadway  solemnly  wrote  : 

On  the  morning  of  Mr.  Nathan's  assassination,  between  the  hours  of  2  and  4  o'clock, 
a  "medium"  of  this  city  (a  woman)  had  a  vision  of  what  she  believes  to~  be  the  whole 
scene.  It  seemed  to  her  that  there  were  three  persons  in  the  transaction,  one  an  old  gen- 
tleman, who  was  the  victim,  another  a  young  man  who  committed  the  murder,  and  the 
third  what  she  took  to  be  a  woman,  whose  back  only  appeared  in  view.  The  vision  was 
so  distinct  and  terrible  that  the  medium  aroused  the  inmates  of  the  boarding-house  by  her 
cries,  to  whom  after  coming  out  of  the  trance  Sjhe  described  what  she  seemed  to  have  wit- 
nessed. Upon  being  shown,  a  short  time  after,  a  portrait  of  Mr.  Nathan,  she  instantly 
recognized  the  face  as  that  of  the  victim  aforesaid.  She  believes  that  she  could  as  quickly 
recognize  the  young  man  if  brought  into  her  presence,  and  claims  »hat  she  can  repeat 
words  that  passed  between  the  assassin  and  Mr.  Nathan  immediately  before  and  on  the 
first  assault.  The  parties  to  the  murder,  she  declares,  live  in  Mr.  Nathan's  house.  She 
insists  that  the  *'  dog  "  had  been  concealed  a  long  time  for  the  purpose  to  which  it  was  put, 
and  that  the  jewelry,  etc.,  taken  were  buried  on  the  premises,  and  are  there  to-day. 

There  was  more  to  the  same  purport,  but  I  pass  to  a  dreamer  w-ho  says : 

I  do  not  think  it  foolish  to  send  you  the  dream  I  had  the  other  night.  I  thought  I  was 
on  ths  roof  of  Mr.  Nathan's  house,  and  I  was  attracted  by  a  little  piece  of  string  hanging 
froo«  one  of  the  chimneys.  I  pulled  it  up  and  found  the  missing  things,  which  consisted 
of  d  tiioody  shirt,  in  which  was  wrapped  two  watches,  three  studs,  some  money,  papers 
an  I  4  weapon.  « 

Another  dreamer  says  : 
Niiw  York  August  1870  concerning  Mr  13.  I^atnan. 
to  the  Sup  Jordon  Esq  Sir 

I  was  Dreeming  3  knights  that  everything  that  was  robed  of  Mr  Nathans  safe  is  hiden 
in  the  yard  water  clo^eth  of  Mr.  Nathans  Primusers  23d  st  Bet  Bricks  and  Seelling     I 
hope  you  will  Be  so  Kind  and  have  it  Serched  in  the  Water  closeth  in  yard  Bet  Seelling  & 
Bricks  if  my  dreem  be  found  thryho  &  then  111  Send  you  another  communication 
yours  .  G .  hope  to  see  it  in 

Tuesdays  Paper 

He  was  as  good  as  his  word,  for  nothing  more  was  heard  of  him.  Even  at  a 
point  as  remote  as  Chicago,  people  were  dreaming  about  the  murder.  A  Dane 
in  that  city  saw  the  servant  girl  of  Mr.  Nathan  as  the  one  who  committed  the 
murder.     'He  also  saw  a  clothes-brush  stained  with  blood. 

Still  another  class  of  letters  wei^  those  of- a  taunting  character  from  thieves 
who  instinctively  deliglited  in  the  failure  of  the  police  to  trace  the  murderer,  and 
who  could  not  resist  the  tem]5tation  of  scrawling  their  i)leasure  in  anonymous 
notes  clothed  in  tlie  peculiar  patois  of  rascality.  These  missives  were  few  in 
number  and  commonplace  in  character,  and  the  single  specimen  appended  is 
suflicient  to  indicate  the  cliaracter  of  all  : 

Hkluj,  Cap.  Jourdax — IIow  about  that  old  Sheeny  Nothan.     You  think  you  got 


A  CELEBRATED  CRIME.  185 

Wash,  on  that  biz  you  and  your  fly  cops  are  a  set  of  green  suckers  you  cant  get  the  dead 
wood  on  nobody  you  think  you  got  some  one  dead  to  rights  dont  you  your  hell  you  are — 
put  Boston  Jones  on  he  knows  his  biz  in  a  horn  does  that  dog  look  like  a  cheese  cutter  or 
what — or  would  you  sooner  go  a  fishin  plenty  of  caseys  Say  look  here  old  fel  the  cove 
what  blowd  the  safe  got  away  with  the  ham  you  bet 

The  reader  can  form  some  idea  of  the  amount  of  labor  forced  upon  Superin- 
tendent Jourdan  and  Captain  Kelso  when  told  that  there  was  no  hint  in  all  these 
hundreds  of  letters  which  seemed  in  the  least  degree  sensible  that  was  not  acted 
upon  until  it  ended  in  failure.  As  the  net  result  of  the  most  extraordinary  search 
ever  made  for  a  criminal,  these  officials,  at  the  time  these  pages  are  written,  are 
precisely  at  the  point  whence  they  started,  both  as  to  facts  and  theories,  except 
in  a  partial  identification  of  the  "dog."  They  have  not  gained  an  atom  of  infor- 
mation of  any  value  by  the  labor  of  weeks,  and  their  diagnosis  of  the  case  re- 
mains unchanged.  They  believe  now,  as  they  have  from  the  first,  that  the 
intruder  in  the  Nathan  mansion  on  that  terrible  night  was  a  "duflfer,"  by  which 
name  the  police  mean  one  who,  following  sotiie  honest  pursuit  during  the  day, 
occasionally  sallies  forth  at  night  to  commit  a  house  robbery.  There  are  hun- 
dreds of  these  men  who  are  entirely  unknown  to  and  unsuspected  by  the  authori- 
ties, and  are  the  most  dangerous,  because  the  least  under  surveillance,  of  all  the 
criminal  classes.  The  business  of  the  duffer  in  the  Nathan  house  was  theft  only, 
and  he  went  there  without  any  definite  plunder  in  view.  He  was  discovered 
while  at  the  safe,  which  he  would  not  have  had  the  wit  to  open  had  he  not  found 
the  key  in  the  pockets  of  his  victim,  and  the  murder  came  as  an  inevitable  event. 
It  was  consummated  in  a  manner  and  with  a  weapon  natural  to  a  duffer,  and  to 
no  one  else.  Nobody  but  a  duffer  would  have  carried  uie  weapon  from  the  room 
to  drop  it  inside  the  door.  The  brutal  coward  flared  that  he  might  meet  some 
one  ',n  the  gloomy  spaces  of  that  great  stairway,  and  when  about  to  pass  into  the 
open  streets,  which  were  safer,  he  cast  it  from  him.  Nobody  but  an  unreason- 
ing brute,  inexperienced  in  the  detective  agencies  of  the  law,  would  have  carried 
away  such  articles  as  the  watches  and  medal,  or,  having  done  so,  could  have  ke}>t 
them  concealed  so  long  :  the  caution  and  cunning  of  stupidity  driven  to  rove» 
are  unequalled.  Nobody  but  a  duffer  would  have  gone  out  the  front  door,  tliun 
recklessly  and  uselessly  assuming  the  risk  of  stepping  from  his  bloody  work  ii<to 
the  clutch  of  a  patrolman,  or  having  done  so  would  have  neglected  to  close  it 
carefully  behind  him,  so  that  the  next  gust  of  wind  would  not  thrust  it  ajar  and 
give  the  other  chance  against  him  of  hastening  by  hours  the  moment  when  his 
crime  must  be  discovered.  Nobody  but  a  duffer  in  stepping  from  that  house 
could  have  been  so  completely  lost  in  the  aggregate  of  humanity  that  no  trace 
of  him  could  be  found.  Rejecting,  as  they  were  compelled  to  do,  the  hypothesis 
that  the  murder  was  done  from  within  the  house,  the  officials  had  no  choice  but 
to  seek  for  the  murderer  among  either  the  professional  or  amateur  criminal 
classes.  The  first  they  have  searched  thoroughly,  and  the  second  to  the  best  of 
their  ability.  Yet  among  the  second,  according  to  their  theory,  the  assassin 
must  be  found,  if  found  at  all.  The  truth  may  be  far  from  their  theory,  and  if 
time  or  accident  ever  dispels  the  impenetrable  cloud  that  envelopes  that  terrible 
scene,  it  may  be  found  that  experience  is  as  useless  in  criminal  matters  as  it  is 
valuable  in  many  other  aflfairs  of  life.  For  the  present,  it  is  sufficient  to  say  that 
John  Jourdan  does  not  expect  by  such  an  event  to  be  put  on  a  level  with  the 
newest  patrolman  under  his  command. 

With  this  murder  and  this  penetrating  but  utterly  barren  pursuit  before  us, 
how  shall  we  answer  the  question,  "  Will  murder  out  ?  " 


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